Pokemon Colosseum: Darkness of Orre
by Misaki Amaya
Summary: Wes is a boy with a mysterious past that he doesn't want anyone knowing about. Rui is a girl with a rather odd ability that even she only recently discovered. But when the two of them meet in a rather unlikely circumstance, the pair may be the Orre Region's only hope before everything is lost.
1. Starting With a Bang

**Pokémon Colosseum: Darkness of Orre**

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**Misa: *Typing on computer, looks up* Oh, hello! It appears you have stumbled upon my Pokémon Colosseum fanfic! *Cough* Anyway, enough if that. Welcome, one and all to my newest fanfic! Before you read it, I'll have you know that my Pokémon Black and White fanfic will still be my main priority, this will be sort of my secondary job, so I'll probably update slightly less often. That said, I definitely did enjoy writing this chapter, so I will try to upload a lot, even if it won't be as much as B/W.**

**Wes: So we don't matter to you?**

**Misa: What the…? Hey! You haven't come into this yet! *Pushes back into story* Okay, well, let's get going, shall we? *Leaps into story after Wes***

**Rui: *Walks in* Uhem, yeah, Misa forgot to do the disclaimer, so… Misa doesn't own Pokémon, I guess. Oh, and enjoy!**

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I stepped up to the wall of the building, the slightly cracked wall that would be easy for me, well, Umbreon, to blow a hole through. I ordered for him to use Secret Power on the wall, and he obeyed without hesitation. Today was my day. Today, I would rule over the hundreds of people stationed inside that building. Today, I would destroy the future plans of the people I hated so much, and I would not fail.

I grinned satisfactorily to myself as the building exploded into flames. I heard screams and shouts from the people inside as I stepped into the room and saw the device I planned to steal. The rubble from the stone walls around me showered onto my head, and the smoke made it hard to see, but I was satisfied. I looked behind me to check that Umbreon was still okay. The Pokémon nodded and stood guard at the gaping hole in the wall as I stepped forward and touched the device with my hand. I grinned again before grabbing it and running out of the building, kicking up the tiny flecks of dust on the ground as I left.

I sprinted at full speed toward my motorbike before anyone who chased me could stop me. The hot sun beating down onto me and the dust particles that were wedged between my eyelids made it hard for me to run without falling over, but I kept going. I leaped onto my bike as Umbreon sprang into the side car next to Espeon and I drove away at full speed, spraying dust in the peoples' faces, the ones who'd tried, and failed, to stop me. One of the men; the big boss of the team, shook a fist at me. I pulled a small remote out of my pocket and pressed the button in the middle of it and the entire building exploded.

"Idiots…" I muttered to myself, throwing the remote over my shoulder with one quick flick of my wrist. Nothing could stop me now. I waved casually at the boss as I drove, and I just had enough time to see him growl at me before he disappeared in the distance. They'd be looking for me soon enough, to take back the object I'd stolen, but for now I was free. Free to go and do things on my own. Free to live my own life. Until they found me of course, that was when I'd begin running, hiding and eventually fighting.

I reached the end of the canyon and saw miles upon miles of empty desert. The only thing I could see occupying it was a small, rusty, abandoned train. I pulled up outside of it and hopped off my bike, closely followed by Umbreon and Espeon. I made to walk into the train carriage, but was blocked by two guys walking down the ramp. They were both dressed rather oddly, one of them wearing a beanie and both of them wearing goggles, jackets and jeans which looked covered in oil. I looked over to what I assumed to be their scratched up car. I noticed it was shaking slightly, but I assumed it to just be the wind (even though there wasn't even a breeze, but I wasn't thinking straight at the time.)

"I love chowing down after a job. We sure pigged out, eh? It adds to the flavour, I swear!" said the guy wearing the beanie (I'll just call him "Beanie Guy" from now on, okay?) The other guy laughed.

"Yeah, we sure bagged ourselves a big one too!" he said. From just one glance, I could tell these guys were idiots beyond belief. I glanced at the shaking vehicle, thinking of the "big one" that they bagged, but then I remembered. The wind. Just the non-existent wind. "The boss'll be sure to fix us up with some good rewards, too."

They then got in their car and drove off. I could have sworn I heard muffled cries coming from it. Probably just the engine. Yep, the engine. Because engines can make muffled, human-like cries, right?

I shook the sights from my head and walked into the train, turning my head to the sign next to the door which read "Outskirt Stand", though the text was barely legible due to the thick layer of rust that coated it. Inside wasn't much better than the outside, with brown walls that had the paint chipped off in places. There were tables and couches that looked like they could collapse at any moment. The people around didn't look much nicer either, most looking like rough motorcyclist travellers. At least I wouldn't be the odd one out, other than maybe my long blue coat that reached my knees, but most of these people didn't look much better.

I'll admit, I did feel a little out of place. Despite the fact that I had messy, sandy coloured hair and wore a long blue coat, black leather boots with goggles rested atop of my head, none of these made me feel any more blended in to the crowd. Maybe it was the white stripe that was plastered to my face, from one cheek to another across my nose, or the fact that my Espeon and Umbreon actually looked relatively clean compared to the other few Pokémon scampering around that was making me feel a little more out of place than I probably should have, and there were some pretty weird looking people on the carriage, none of them looking like good news. Or maybe it was the fact that no one else here wore the metal device that now clung to my arm, though it was hidden under my sleeves. More or less, it was still there, and no one else had to carry the weight of it.

I shivered slightly as I sat down, took off my long black boots and lay back on a couch, which creaked when I put my weight on it. I heard a news report come on the TV, so I sat up again and smirked when I realised it was about what I'd just pulled off.

"Authorities have made a stunning announcement on the mysterious building that exploded in Eclo Canyon. It was Team Snagem's hideout," began the news reporter. I felt a little more proud of my work knowing that people already knew about it. Umbreon looked up at me and twitched his ear, apparently confused by the surroundings.

"We won't stay here long," I whispered. Espeon looked more relieved than Umbreon, as she had previously been sniffing things and looking around in disgust. I rolled my eyes before focussing my attention back on the report.

"Team Snagem is a gang of abductors that have already been marked for arrest. The hideout was discovered only by the result of the explosion. By the time the police had arrived, the hideout had already been abandoned."

"As long as I got what I need, I'm happy," I muttered, flexing my arm which now wore the metal device. Honestly, I was surprised no one had noticed it yet, as having a weird metal object wasn't normal even in a place like this as far as I knew.

"The cause of the explosion is still under investigation and should become apparent eventually," finished the reporter. The screen went blank again and everyone began talking to themselves about my work, even though they didn't know it was my work.

"Or it won't," I said. I was interrupted from my pointless mumbling by a boy who looked around seventeen or eighteen. He had messy, spiky pink hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in a few months and wore grey jeans, a jacket and biker gloves.

"Hey, the name's Willie," he stated. I raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was randomly deciding to talk to me.

"Yeah?" I said, looking up at him. This didn't seem to faze his attitude. He just kept talking like I hadn't said anything.

"You look pretty tough. Wanna battle?" he said. It was a little sudden, but Espeon and Umbreon looked at me with steely eyes and I ended up accepting it. "Cool. Though I don't think I have a chance of winning."

Admitting defeat before we even battled. This guy was weird, but hey, at least I had a pretty much guaranteed win. I pulled on my boots and stood up. Espeon and Umbreon followed closely as I walked out of the train carriage. We stood apart from each other and sent out our Pokémon. I had Espeon and Umbreon, and he had two Zigzagoon. Yeah, this would be a piece of cake.

"Man, I'm on fire now! It's full throttle time!" yelled Willie, squatting down as if he were on a motorbike. What was with the sudden burst of ego? A few minutes he was saying how he wouldn't stand a chance, and now he was saying he was going to choke me. The fiery determination in his voice was somewhat annoying, too. I rolled my eyes and we began battling.

I was right about the easy win, of course. A couple of Bites from Umbreon and a couple Confusions from Espeon and we flicked him away like a Bug Pokémon.

"Wow, you're tough!" said Willie impressively. "How about going to test your skills in Phenac City? You'll find Trainers there that are way stronger than me."

"Don't mind if I do," I said, stroking Espeon on the head. "By the way, the name's Wes."

"Cool." Willie nodded firmly before continuing. "Well, Phenac City's just west of here. You can't miss it. It really stands out in a desert."

I nodded silently, jumping on my bike and riding away towards Phenac City. It didn't take too long to get there, and as soon as I did I encountered Beanie Guy and his sidekick, who were carrying a squirming bag about the size of a person. Okay, so it wasn't the wind, and engines don't make muffled cries.

"Hey, what're you doing? Get a grip, man!" growled the sidekick. Beanie Guy glared at him.

"Yeah, you say that, but it won't stop squirming. It makes it tough to hold on!" he snapped, shaking the bag. "Stop moving, you brat!"

I heard a muffled cry come from inside the bag. Looks like they had someone bound and gagged inside there. Finally, a voice, a girl's one, came out of the bag.

"Help! Someone! Kidnappers!" she shrieked.

"Looks like the tape didn't keep her yap shut," said Beanie Guy. Time for me to get noticed.

"Oi, dumb and dumber!" I yelled. The two dropped the bag in surprise, and the girl inside cried in pain as she hit the ground with a sickening _thud_.

"Aw, drat. That dude saw all of this!" said the sidekick.

"You honestly thought you could get away with kidnapping a person in the middle of a city? Someone was bound to spot you," I said, crossing my arms and frowning slightly. The two approached me, apparently trying to look tough, though they were at least a head shorter than me, so it didn't work.

"Alright, since you saw us, we have no choice. Blame it on your own bad luck!" said the sidekick. "I'll take care of this, Trudly."

"Alright, but don't mess it up like you always do, Folly!" snapped Trudly. Folly nodded and sent out two Whismur. I rolled my eyes and looked at Espeon, who stepped beside me.

"Confusion," I said simply, and Espeon sent the two Whismur flying into the concrete wall surrounding the city. Folly yelped and returned them to their Pokéballs.

"Wow, this guy's tough! He must be to beat my Whismur!" he cried. He then stared at me and stayed silent for a few moments. "Hey, that face! Might you be Team Snagem's...?" At that point, two people came running up to us, apparently having heard all the ruckus. One was a teenage boy who looked about sixteen, and the other was a woman wearing a short pink dress.

"What on earth is going on here?" exclaimed the woman. "Eek! Somebody, robbers! They're robbers!"

"H-hey! We're not robbers! We're kidnappers! Get it? _Kid-nap-pers!_" insisted Trudly hastily. I smacked my forehead at his stupidity.

"What? Don't shoot off your mouth like that!" snapped Folly, elbowing his partner. He then turned to me and glared. "Don't get all happy just because you won this once. Next time we meet, I'll trash you, your Pokémon and all."

Espeon sighed dismissively, apparently rather amused by the scene. Umbreon, on the other hand, was growling menacingly at the two rob-… sorry, _kidnappers_. Dumb and dumber then ran off, leaving the wiggling sack in the middle of the path.

"Oh, there's someone inside there!" said the boy, kneeling down in front of the sack and trying to untie the knot. "Ugh, this is tough!" I rolled my eyes and shoved him out of the way.

"Let me do it!" I snapped, pulling the knot, and with one tug, the mouth of the sack fell open and a teenage girl stepped out of it. She had bright orange hair in spiky pigtails on the top of her head and bright blue eyes. She wore a blue jacket with a purple t-shirt, a white mini-skirt and pink boots.

"Phew, what a relief!" she sighed, dusting off her clothes. "Oh, hello!" She grinned up at me. I just stared at her, slightly surprised. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to come out of the sack, but whatever it was, it wasn't her. "So, where is this?" she looked around confusedly, ruffling one of her pigtails. "Where did those goons take me to?"

"This is Phenac City, the opulent city of water!" stated the woman. "This person saved you from those thugs." The girl turned to me and smiled again.

"Oh! Thank you!" The girl bowed slightly. I didn't bother replying, though she didn't seem fazed by it. "And, uh, you are…?"

"Wes," I said simply. The girl nodded firmly.

"Okay. That's cool. I'm Rui." She held out a hand for me to shake, but I just turned my head away from her and crossed my arms. "Anyway, glad to meet you! I was in the neighbouring town when those two grabbed me and brought me here. Oh, did those guys use a peculiar Pokémon?"

"If you call two Whismur peculiar, then yeah." I rolled my eyes before Rui continued talking hastily.

"Oh, never mind…" she muttered, staring at the ground.

"You should go see our mayor for advice," suggested the woman. Rui looked up at her. Her confused eyes seemed to get a little brighter. "He's a very kind person. I'm sure he won't mind helping you out. The house is up on the fountain square, just to the left."

"Ok, I'll do that!" said Rui. I made to walk away, but she stepped in front of me. I groaned impatiently.

"What now?" I snapped. Rui giggled.

"Well, I was wondering if you could come with me?" she asked. "I don't really have anyone else I can turn to…"

"Forget it," I said, turning around. "Espeon, Umbreon, let's go." I began walking, and Umbreon followed closely beside me, but Espeon was standing next to Rui, who was stroking her on the head.

"What if they come back, though…" muttered the redhead helplessly. I sighed submissively.

"Fine, I'll go…"

"Yay! Thank you! I'll feel a lot safer with you around," chirped Rui, skipping up to my side. "Let's go then! To the mayor's house!"

We walked around the town, me walking at my own pace and Rui hurrying in front of me. For the situation she'd just been in, I was surprised at how happy she was.

"You know you just got kidnapped, right?" I said. Rui stopped and turned to me, nodding quickly. "I would've thought you'd be a little less happy."

"Well, I don't have anything to worry about now that you're with me, do I, Wes?" she sang. I shook my head slowly.

"Don't expect me to stick around for long. I have places to go and people to see." Rui raised an eyebrow and turned her head to the side curiously.

"Like what?"

"Just… ugh, let's just go!" I snapped. This time, I was the one walking in front. Just as we reached the mayor's house, I nearly bumped into a tall wom-… sorry, man, who had just walked out of the mayor's office. Hey, you can't blame me for thinking he was a girl. With the long white hair and the purple robe that looked more like a dress than a shirt, it's hard not to.

"Hmm… I'd guess you're a travelling Trainer," sh-.. _he _said. "I like what I see in your expression. I have a feeling I'll be seeing you again." He then just left, leaving me staring peculiarly behind him. Rui seemed utterly confused.

"Was that a guy or a girl?" she said dumbly. I let out a small laugh before walking into the mayor's house. Well, I tried to, anyway…

"Wes!" Rui grabbed my arm. I turned around confusedly.

"What?"

"You can't just walk into peoples' houses! You have to knock!"

"But that guy left the door open…" Rui just sweatdropped and shook her head.

"Hello? Can we come in?" she called through the door, tapping slightly on the wall. We heard a call of "Yes" and we entered the house. I looked around to see a (very large and round) man step out from behind a desk. He was apparently the mayor as he had a large "mayor" tag pinned to his bright red cloak, made of what looked to be some ridiculously expensive, high quality material that the majority of the world couldn't hope to afford.

"Ah! Welcome to Phenac City! You must be travellers. I'm Es Cade, the mayor!" he stated proudly.

"Nah…" I muttered sarcastically. Luckily, Rui didn't hear me or she probably would have slapped me.

"Now, you wanted to see me? Is there something I may be able to assist you with?" said Es Cade. Rui stepped forward nervously.

"I… um… err…" she muttered.

"Oh, and what may I do for a pretty young lady like you?" said Es Cade. My first thought after this phrase was "paedophile", so I grabbed Rui's arm and stepped forward a little, ready to punch the guy in the face if I had to.

"I… I saw it!" said Rui nervously.

"Nice choice of words…" I mumbled. She shot me a glance that I assumed meant "shut up", so I did.

"It?" Es Cade looked utterly confused. "What did you see, exactly?"

"I saw a peculiar Pokémon!" continued Rui. "No, that's not quite right. What I saw was a Pokémon with a black aura. It was like a fighting machine. And that Pokémon would attack people."

"Oh, my! A Pokémon like a fighting machine that attacks people?" gasped Es Cade. "Now, if that were true, it would be very frightening. However, it is a little hard to believe…"

"It's true! Because I saw it, I was made the prisoner of a group of people earlier!" insisted Rui. Es Cade shook his head.

"I still find it hard to…"

"Well believe it!" I growled. "She's telling the truth. Now just hurry up and set the police on them or something so we can get out of here!"

The mayor looked at me. "And you are?"

"Wes."

"You're this lady's boyfriend…" He stared at the way I was holding her arm, and I instantly let go.

"Ugh, _no_! Just do something about it!"

"Okay, okay, I'll order an investigation at once!"

"Finally…" I muttered. Rui seemed relieved, too.

"Thank you, Mr. Mayor!" said Rui, smiling happily. I rolled my eyes irritably.

"Well, while I'm doing that, why don't you two go and check out the Stadium?" suggested Es Cade. "I mean, you seem like Trainers."

That reminded me, I hadn't asked Rui if she had any Pokémon yet. I shook the thought out of my head before nodding quickly and turning to leave. Rui looked at me and hesitated for a bit. I groaned and turned around slowly.

"Well, you coming?" I asked plainly. The redhead's eyes lit up and she nodded quickly and followed me out, waving goodbye to the mayor, who I already knew I didn't like.

"Okay, to the Stadium!" said Rui, pointing ahead of her eagerly. This girl was weird, _really _weird. What's more, she was the complete opposite of me. I was cool, collected and generally calm, where as she was bubbly, bright, and (though I hated to admit it) kind of fun to have around. She seemed to have this aura about her that lightened the mood while she was around you, something I'd never really had.

As I walked, I noticed there was some sort of odd feel to the town. Something was off about it. I didn't know how to explain it, but the air just didn't feel right. I glared up the tall steps to the Stadium as the overexcited Rui ran up the stairs in front of me.

"Hurry up, Wes!" she called, giggling slightly to herself. "We haven't got all day!"

I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time today since I'd met her. I mean, I rolled my eyes a lot at stupid people, but this girl seemed a whole new level of annoying and idiotic. Either way, I couldn't bring myself to leave her after this, not just yet.

"I'm coming!" I snapped, causing her to chuckle lightly before sprinting to the top of the steps, skipping the last two in one big leap. Her landing, however, wasn't quite as smooth as her running, and she ended up tripping when she hit the ground and bumping straight into three men… oh, crap.

"Oi, what the hell are you doing?" growled one of them. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to do. Rui looked utterly terrified when she stood up, and I actually didn't blame her, I being the one in the know about who exactly they were. She'd bumped into the middle of three men, each dressed pretty much the same in a red sleeveless shirt, black cargo pants and a black headband on each of their bald heads.

"O-oh, I'm so s-sorry…" she stammered, bowing her head in apology. This, apparently, didn't cut it for one of the men, who just glared at her even more. Maybe I should have hidden from them, as they were the exact group of people I was trying to avoid, but I scrapped that idea when one of them decided to try and throw a punch at Rui.

"Oi!" I growled, leaping up the last few steps and grabbing the guys arm before he could touch her. I glared at him, and the guy jumped back in shock when he realised who I was. Dammit, why'd I have to have such a significant appearance?

"Whad'ya think you're doing?" snapped the one whose wrist I was still holding.

"I could ask you the same question," I spat, shoving the guy back, sending him stumbling a metre or so.

"Hey, I know you!" said the one to the left of the middle. "You're Wes! You're the filthy double crossing traitor!"

Now was my time to stay still, not moving an inch. Somehow, I think I thought this would either make them just decide to leave, or I would turn invisible by doing so. Unfortunately, neither of these happened. Either way, I still looked pretty idiotic standing in front of this guy who was practically yelling at me while I didn't even move a muscle.

"Well, apparently wrecking the hideout wasn't good enough!" The guy pointed at my arm where the metal device was still attached. "No, you had to go and rip off the Snag Machine, too!" Finally, I decided my "staying still and maybe I'll turn invisible" act wasn't working, so I sighed and looked down at them.

"Yeah, what of it?" I spat, glaring even harder at the guy. At that, Rui stepped forward to my side and stared at me in shock.

"T-these people…" she muttered. "Are they… Team Snagem?"

"Right you are, pretty lady," smirked the guy on the left, who was yet to speak. I growled quietly at him.

"She's not that pretty…" I mumbled. Rui shot me a glance before continuing.

"And… what did they mean by traitor?" she said. "Wes, does that mean…"

"That's right, this guy's from Team Snagem just like us!" proclaimed the middle guy. "But Wes isn't just any old member, he's a Snagger. He's the best at Snagging Pokémon without fail!"

Rui seemed almost betrayed by the members' claims. "Is this true, Wes?" she asked. I knew she knew the correct answer, but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to say it.

"No…" I mumbled, through gritted teeth. I smacked my forehead after I said so. I should have just said yes, Rui knew the answer anyway.

"So it _is _true!" Rui gasped. "You gritted your teeth, I saw you!"

"Anyway, hand it over, Wes!" demanded the middle guy. "We want the Snag Machine back!" I looked at my arm before shaking my head. I wanted to explain to Rui, but I couldn't at this point in time.

"Nah, I'm good," I shrugged, putting my hand with the Snag Machine in my pocket. The Team Snagem members growled.

"Fine, if you won't give it willingly, we'll take it by…"

"Espeon, Confusion," I ordered casually, and a few seconds later all three of them were lifted into the air. "Force?" I finished for them. "Nah, I actually kinda like having this thing. Bye!" Espeon then dropped them down the stairs and they fled Phenac City. I turned around; feeling somehow ashamed of myself, though I don't know why, to Rui, who I was surprised hadn't left a long time ago.

"So, whad'ya know, Wes," she said. I was even more surprised to see her smiling slightly. "You're from Team Snagem."

"Yeah…" I muttered. She then grabbed my arm and pulled it out of my pocket. Damn, she had a strong grip.

"So, this is the Snag Machine?" she said, tracing a finger along the wire. I nodded slightly. "What does it do, exactly?"

"Basically, it makes it so you can steal other people's Pokémon with normal Pokéballs," I said. "Normally, a Pokéball would just bounce off the Pokémon if it's owned by a Trainer, but when it's been effected by the Snag Machine, it'll actually catch it."

"That sounds… kinda horrible…" mumbled Rui. I nodded slightly. Why the heck was I explaining it to this girl? I'd barely known her for an hour and I was basically ready to explain my whole life story to her. Well, I guess it was good that she hadn't run away yet, but still.

"It is, that's why I stole it," I explained. Rui turned her head to the side, urging me to go on. "I hated it there. I hated stealing other peoples' Pokémon, and I hated being bossed around like they did, so I blew up the hideout and stole the machine for myself so they couldn't use it anymore."

"So… you're a bit of a softie, really, aren't you, Wes?" she giggled. I glared at her.

"I'm not a softie! Didn't I just explain to you that I blew up a building to get that thing?" I snapped. "Anyway, why're you still here?"

"What do you mean?" asked Rui. I rolled my eyes, thinking the question was obvious.

"I would have thought you'd be at least a little freaked out by the fact I'm an ex-Team Snagem member," I said simply. Rui laughed quietly before placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I would be if you weren't an _ex_-Team Snagem member," she chuckled. "I can tell you're not a bad person, Wes, just made a bad decision by joining those guys." She looked at the ground for a bit. "Besides, you're my gallant prince who saved me when I was in danger."

I felt my face heat up a little at this, and I mentally slapped myself in the cheek. This girl… she actually didn't mind my former self. She didn't care about my past, like most judgemental people these days would. I felt the edges of my lips curl up in a bit of a smile.

"Wes, if you're a former Team Snagem member, I was thinking," Rui began again. "Do you know anything about that weird Pokémon I saw before? The one with the black aura?"

"Honestly, I've never seen one with a black aura," I admitted. "But I do know Team Snagem were doing horrible experiments on Pokémon to make them stronger. That's another reason I stole the Snag Machine. I wanted to get those Pokémon back, but I couldn't tell which ones had been affected by it yet, and I'm actually not sure where they go when I handed them into the boss." I paused for a moment. "Oh, that reminds me, I need to go shopping for some Pokéballs…"

I looked down the steps and began running down them. At the bottom, I noticed Rui wasn't following me. I looked back at her confusedly.

"You coming?" I called up. Rui stared down at me before her eyes lit up again and she beamed down at me before running down the stairs.

"Sure!" she laughed. We then walked to the Pokémart together, me walking slowly and rolling my eyes, and her skipping along ahead of me giggling her head off. It seemed this was going to be a regular thing from now on.

Maybe Rui wasn't so bad. If there's one thing I learned about her in that short amount of time, it was that she was a generally caring person. She was fun to have around, I'll admit, and maybe she wasn't such a drag. Besides, she didn't run away when she found out I used to be in Team Snagem. In fact, she seemed more curious about it than anything.

Most of all, though, she made me generally happy, even if I didn't exactly act like it. The usually bitter atmosphere was made considerably warmer than before I'd met her and that gave me a good feeling. And it was a good thing I stuck with her, too, because I had no idea of the massive journey that was ahead of us, and to complete that journey, well, we couldn't do it as individuals.

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**Misa: Well, that came out longer than expected… but I guess that's not a bad thing. I'll try to get another chapter up ASAP. Oh, by the way, here are a few things that happened at the start of my game…**

**-It took me about ten minutes to find the mayor's house. I literally just wondered aimlessly around the city, and somehow I managed to go into each house **_**except**_** the mayor's house at least twice.**

**-I actually thought the guy coming out of the mayor's office was a girl, this continued until my brother notified me about six months after I finished the game…**

**-I was, and still am, truly convinced the mayor is a paedophile. I'll never look back on that judgement…**

**Uhem, well, yeah, until then, stay tuned and make sure to review!**


	2. Black Auras

**Pokémon Colosseum: Darkness of Orre**

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**Misa: Chapter two is here, and it took a little longer to get out than I expected as school began bombarding me with projects the moment the holidays ended… Anyway, though, the chapter's here now and I guess that's all that matters, right?**

**Wes: You're so slow that if I could, I'd leave this story.**

**Misa: Yeah, I'm sure you would, but unfortunately for you, you're on a contract, so no leaving for you! Anywho, I'm just going to get going before I get flattened by Wes, so I don't own Pokémon in any way.**

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"What do you mean you don't sell Pokéballs?"

I slammed my hands down on the desk, causing the shopkeeper to jump back in shock. Rui stepped up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. I resisted the urge to shrug her hand off before she began speaking.

"Well, I suppose that's understandable," she sighed, pulling me back slightly. Normally, I would have resisted, but I figure Rui was going to solve this problem better than I could. "There's not exactly any wild Pokémon in Orre, but there must be Pokéballs somewhere…"

"Pokéballs you say?"

We turned around to see a woman wearing a _very _poofy dress and a pink hat walking up to us.

"I overheard someone talking about selling Pokéballs at the Outskirt Stand," she said. Rui's eyes brightened up and she beamed at the woman. I was relatively relieved that we'd actually be able to find Pokéballs. Back in Team Snagem, the boss just showed up with Pokéballs. He never actually told us where he got them from.

"Well, then, let's go!" chirped Rui. She bowed at the woman before turning to me. "C'mon, we'd better hurry! Those thugs could show up with the Pokémon with the black aura again, so we need to be ready."

I nodded and we left the shop and walked to the entrance of the city where my bike was still standing. Espeon and Umbreon jumped into the sidecar, and I sat in my usual seat. Unfortunately, I then realised there was no room for Rui to sit, so I pulled out Espeon and Umbreon's Pokéballs. The two Pokémon looked at me, seeming a little horrified by my decision. Until now, I barely used their Pokéballs.

"Sorry, but Rui's a person, so she gets the sidecar," I explained. Espeon and Umbreon looked at each other before I returned them.

"_I quite liked riding shotgun," _said Espeon.

"_I know. Why can't we stuff the girl in the Pokéball?" _growled Umbreon. I sighed, pointing their Pokéballs towards them.

"I've owned you two my whole life," I said simply. "I can hear you loud and clear. It also doesn't help with Espeon speaking by telepathy." The two Pokémon scowled before I returned them. "Alright, Rui, you're in the sidecar."

Rui hesitated a little before hopping in beside me. I revved the engine before driving off at full speed. Rui screamed and almost fell out of the sidecar, clutching onto the side to stop herself. I laughed a little and looked over to her.

"Is this even legal?" she shrieked, shutting her eyes tightly. I just shrugged and grinned at her.

"I dunno," I chuckled. "Probably not."

This, obviously, didn't help her feelings towards the speed, so naturally I had to drive even faster. When we reached the outskirt stand, Rui looked like she was about to fall over. She stood up, her eyes spinning and her head wobbling around.

"_Never_ do that again…" she grumbled, holding her head. "Otherwise I swear to Arceus I'll just stay at the Outskirt Stand forever."

"Nah, might get kidnapped again," I said simply. Rui jumped back a little at the thought.

"You know what, drive as fast as you want," she said hastily, before following me into the train carriage. The large man at the counter turned to us when we stepped in.

"What can I do for yah?" he asked. He had a deep, gruff voice which seemed to startle Rui a little.

"Do you happen to sell Pokéballs?" she asked, shaking the voice out of her head and stepping up to the counter. The size comparison was ridiculous, the man being about twice the size of Rui. I let out a small laugh before turning my attention back to the man.

"Pokéballs?" the man asked. "Lemme see here…" He ducked under the table and pulled out a box of ridiculously dusty looking Pokéballs, covered in cobwebs and mould. "Here we go. I haven't touched 'em in a few years. Not much demand for 'em 'round here since there's no wild Pokémon, so I'll give yah five for free. Then I may as well put 'em on sale since I've got 'em."

"Thankyou!" said Rui happily, taking the Pokéballs from him and putting them in her bag. "These will be a big help!"

"No problem," laughed the man. "Well, come back any time if yah need any more Pokéballs."

"We will," I said, before turning to Rui. "C'mon, let's go back to Phenac. There could still be those Team Snagem goons there." I led the way out of the Outskirt Stand and we rode back to Phenac, Rui seeming a little less freaked out this time as she was a little more prepared.

We reached the city only to have the woman we'd seen when Rui was rescued run up to us, looking utterly terrified.

"Oh, thank goodness!" she panted. It seemed she'd been running for quite awhile as she was struggling to get her words out. She stopped to catch her breath before continuing. "Those thugs from before! They came back, and they brought a lot more people."

I turned my head to Rui, who nodded and we ran through the town. On the way, we saw a boy running around the fountain with his Castform. He turned to us when he saw us and his eyes seemed to light up.

"Hey, it's you two from before!" he yelled, rushing up to us. "I saw those guys head towards the Mayor's office. But there was a whole lot more of them this time."

"Thanks for the info," I said, nodding briskly, before running off again.

We reached the Mayor's office only to see a ridiculously tall man wearing a gold suit that looked like it was in style a good thirty years ago, gold, high-healed shoes and had a _massive_, half red and half white afro sitting on top of his head. He was dancing to the music being played in the room while talking to Trudly and Folly who were standing in front of him. Beside him were three other guys, each wearing a similar looking suit to each other consisting of helmets, goggles and costumes that looked almost like armour. One wore all blue, one wore all red, and the last wore all green.

I turned to Rui, a little uncertain of whether we should interfere or not. She nodded her head. I couldn't help but wonder what they were doing in the Mayor's office as we walked into the room. When we entered, Trudly and Folly looked a little horrified to see us.

"Master Miror B.! It's him!" Folly exclaimed, jabbing a finger at me. "He's the one who took the girl from us!"

The afro-headed man turned around to face me. From the front, he looked even more than thirty years behind in terms of fashion sense. From the front, I saw that he was also wearing sunglasses that made him look slightly more eerie than he should have. It was odd hearing them call him "Master", as a guy like that really didn't look like someone even slightly powerful.

"Oh, now aren't you boys frightfully pathetic? Stop the music!" he laughed. As soon as he uttered the last sentence, the groovy music filling the room stopped. His voice sounded almost upbeat and happy, and it somehow fit with the aura he gave off. "Getting bested by these darling infants?" Apparently he didn't know the meaning of "infants", either. "Darling, did you say your name was Wes or something?"

I scowled, glaring at him menacingly. In my opinion, even his underlings standing around him looked more intimidating than him. The only thing scary about him was his outfit. I rolled my eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and?" I said. I'd expected this to tick him off. On the contrary, it only made him look at me like I was even more of a joke.

"Well, I don't like saying this, but we're not at liberty to keep your lady friend at liberty," said Miror B. Rui stepped behind me a little closer. I could understand, I guess, the memories of being kidnapped mustn't have been too pleasant. Miror B. then turned around to Trudly and Folly again. "Boys, I expect you can handle these meddlers a second time around?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" they chorused, saluting, though I noticed their hands were shaking as they did so. I wasn't sure why they were so freaked out. The guy didn't look all that intimidating.

"I won't accept failure from you two again," continued Miror B., before turning back around to Rui and I and doing some weird pose that showed he was about to begin dancing. "Let the music spin!" As soon as he said that, the music began playing again, and he moon-walked out of the room, closely followed by the three dressed in red, blue and green.

"Where the hell did that music come from?" I muttered. Rui shrugged before we turned our gaze to Trudly and Folly. "So, we're going to battle or what?"

Folly flinched a little before stepping up to me and pulling out two Pokéballs. I wasn't sure how we were going to pull off a Pokémon battle in the Mayor's office, but I've seen weirder things happen, so I pulled out Espeon and Umbreon's Pokéballs and threw them out. Folly sent out a Whismur and a Lotad.

"Espeon, Confusion on Lotad! Umbreon, Bite on Whismur!"

Espeon managed to pull off Confusion on Lotad, sending it crashing into the wall. Unfortunately, Whismur let off an Uproar attack before Umbreon managed to get near it. I growled a little. He'd certainly upgraded his team since last time.

"Lotad, use Absorb!" commanded Folly.

"Quick, Espeon! Counter with Return!"

Espeon rammed into Lotad before it could unleash the attack, and Umbreon sent another Bite Whismur's way. Folly groaned before ordering his Whismur to use Uproar, which seemed to affect Espeon more than Umbreon, so I ordered Umbreon to use Bite on it, which knocked it out cold. Espeon then used Confusion on Lotad and managed to knock it out, too.

"Idiot!" snapped Trudly, stepping beside Folly and pulling out his own Pokéballs. "Alright, my turn now, and I'm not going to end up like Folly."

He threw the Pokéballs into the air to reveal a Spinarak and a Duskull. Of course, I still had Umbreon and Espeon.

"Espeon, use Return on that Spinarak! Umbreon, use Bite on that Duskull!"

The two followed my command and attacked the two Pokémon, both of which hit. Unfortunately, Duskull and Spinarak countered with Astonish and Night Shade respectively.

"Shrug it off!" I called. Espeon and Umbreon shook themselves off before glaring at their opponents once more. "Great, now, use Return, Espeon, and use Secret Power, Umbreon!"

After taking the hit, both Pokémon were knocked out and Trudly recalled them with a growl. He then smirked at me and pulled out another Pokéball.

"Alright, I'll use my secret weapon, then, since I have no choice," he laughed. "Go, Makuhita!"

He threw the ball into the air revealing an aggressive looking Makuhita. I noticed Rui gasp and jump back when she saw it, and she hid behind me and flinched a little.

"Wes!" she exclaimed. "That Makuhita! It's that one! That's the one with the black aura. Those guys kidnapped me because I saw that Pokémon."

"Got it," I said, though when I turned back around, I saw the Pokémon charging straight towards me. I flinched and braced for impact, but before it could hit me Espeon caught it in mid-air with Confusion and sent it flying towards Umbreon, who hit it with Secret Power.

"Be careful, it's not afraid to attack people!" warned Rui. I nodded quickly.

"Thanks, guys," I said to Espeon and Umbreon.

"Esp!" cried Espeon. I felt Rui tap me on the shoulder and I turned around to see her holding out a Pokéball to me. I nodded thanks before taking it from her.

"Guess I don't have any other choice then…" I muttered. "Go, Snag Ball!" I hurled the Snag Ball at the Makuhita, which snatched it up in a silverly light, contrary to the usual red light that would appear when a Pokémon is released or caught. I gritted my teeth as the Pokéball twitched… once… twice… and finally a third time before it clicked and sealed itself shut. Trudly's mouth fell open and he groaned.

"M-my Pokémon!" he wailed, putting his head in his hands. I smirked, tossing the Pokéball in my hand and catching it again neatly. Rui punched the air happily.

"Starting to think having me as an enemy isn't such a good thing, aren't you," I said casually. Rui giggled and took the Pokéball from me before putting it in her bag. Folly scoffed.

"Aw, man, we got pummelled again!" he grumbled. "Miror B's going to chew us out."

"W-what do we do?" stammered Folly. "What is there to do?"

The two looked to Rui and I, before looking back at each other and screaming, "Run away!" before hightailing out of the office.

"Yes, you did it, Wes!" squealed Rui, jumping up and down. "You snagged the Pokémon back from those goons! Let's get all of them back from the bad guys."

"Don't get too ambitious…" I muttered. "C'mon, let's go see what those other three guys are up to."

We walked out of the office to find the green one of the three shady looking guys blocking the exit to the town. He turned to us, looking a little confused. Apparently he hadn't expected us to get past Trudly and Folly's Makuhita.

"Well, sorry to break it to you, but I'm not allowed to let you pass," he said simply. "Or do you have the idea that you can take me in a battle?"

"Yeah, I get the feeling," I said. I turned to Espeon and Umbreon, who both nodded in unison to show that they were ready. The shady guy pulled out a Pokéball and turned to me.

"Alright, but it'll be a single battle," he explained, throwing his Pokéball into the air to reveal a Bayleef. I turned to Rui, assuming if he only had one Pokémon, then it would have a dark aura. Rui nodded and I turned to Espeon.

"You're up," I stated. Espeon held her head up in a dignified way and trotted up in front of me. "Alright, start it off with Return!"

"Dodge, Bayleef, and then use Shadow Rush!"

Bayleef jumped neatly out of the way before a shadowy mist cloaked it and it charged at Espeon and knocked it aside. Espeon seemed to struggle a little standing up, but shook herself once she did so and growled at Bayleef.

"You okay?" I asked, a little worried about whether or not Espeon would be able to take it. I wasn't surprised when Espeon nodded confidently; she'd never been one to give up so easily. "Alright, then, use Return again!"

"Shadow Rush!"

Again, Espeon missed with Return and Bayleef charged at it with Shadow Rush, but this time I managed to order a Confusion attack on time and Bayleef was lifted up into the air.

"Into the wall!" I commanded, and Bayleef was thrown against the wall, taking quite a bit of damage. I pulled a Pokéball from my pocket and charged it up with the Snag Machine, before hurling it at Bayleef, which was cloaked in silver light and sucked into the Pokéball. This time, however, the Pokéball only clicked once and the Bayleef burst out of it, looking angry as ever. Without command, it charged straight at Rui, surrounded in shadowy mist. Luckily, Umbreon was there and used Secret Power on it just on time.

"Hey, one on one!" snapped the shady guy. I glared at him and scowled.

"Well, no attacking humans is a general rule!" I growled. "You okay, Rui?"

"I-I'm fine…" muttered Rui, though she seemed very shaken up. I turned to the Bayleef to see it had become Paralysed on the spot.

"Ah, the beauty of Secret Power…" I muttered, smiling to myself. "Thanks, Umbreon!"

"Umbre!" cried Umbreon, before I pulled out another Pokéball and hurled it at Bayleef. It twitched once… twice… three times, before clicking loudly and sealing itself.

"Gah!" growled shady guy, stomping the ground. "I thought I could beat you if I used Bayleef, but apparently not…"

"Verde!"

We turned around to see the red and blue goons rushing up to us, each followed by a Quilava and Croconaw respectively.

"Bluno! Rosso!" replied supposed Verde, sounding a little relieved. "Quick, stomp this guy flat, he Snagged my Bayleef!"

"No time for that," panted the guy dressed in blue, supposedly Bluno. "Boss needs us back at Headquarters right now!"

"Got it." Verde nodded quickly before turning to me. "Don't think I'll forget this. This is just the start. Team Snagem will crush you!" Then the three ran out of the city, leaving Rui and I looking behind them, a little confused.

"Well, that was odd…" I muttered. I then turned to Rui, who still looked shaken from nearly being attacked my Bayleef. "You okay?"

"I… I t-think so…" she stuttered. "Just a little shaken. I don't want to be attacked again, that's all."

"What you've been through would leave anyone freaked out," I muttered. "Well, I think you ought to be thanking Umbreon."

"Yeah, thanks," said Rui sincerely. Umbreon nodded quickly. I then turned to Espeon, who was looking exhausted. I turned my head to look at the sky and noticed the sun was setting over the horizon, giving everything in the city a golden tinge. The sunlight reflected off the water to shine around the city. It made Rui's hair look about twice as orange as it usually was.

"Well, I think we should rest up," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Both us and the Pokémon are exhausted. We should get them rested up before we do anything else. I think we should set out to find them again tomorrow."

"We?" Rui raised an eyebrow, and I did the same, staring at her. "You're actually letting me come with you?"

"Eh, why not," I shrugged, turning around and beginning to walk towards the Pokémon Center. "I could use the company."

Rui stared behind me for a moment or so before beaming at me and running along behind me.

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That night, I left the Pokémon Center to do a little training outside. I sat on the side of the fountain in the middle of the city and pulled out Makuhita and Bayleef's Pokéballs. J stared at them for a moment. It seemed we'd have a lot more shadow Pokémon in our possession starting this week. It felt weird knowing that just a few days ago I was still sitting in Team Snagem's hideout. I had no plans on blowing up the hideout and making my escape back then, and I never planned on turning against them.

Now, however, sitting outside under the moonlight, I felt a sense of freedom I never would have felt if I hadn't turned on them. I felt like I could do anything with my life now, and I had new Pokémon and a new travelling companion to do so with. I clenched the Pokéballs in my hand before pocketing Bayleef's and pulling out Umbreon's. I let him out and he landed neatly on the floor and sat beside me.

"Hey, buddy," I laughed, patting him on the head. I would have let Espeon out too, but her energy drains in the moonlight, where as Umbreon is at his best at night. Even though he'd been battling all day, he was still full of energy regardless. I laughed as he licked my hand. "Alright, I want you on standby. I'm going to let Makuhita out, and I don't know what he's going to do."

"Umbre," barked Umbreon, nodding firmly and stepping back, standing ready to attack in case Makuhita decided to lash out. I took a deep breath before throwing the Pokéball into the air.

"Alright, Makuhita, go!" I called, and the Pokéball burst open and red light shot out of it, which reshaped and reformed until it was the shape of Makuhita, which then became solid. It blinked, looking around confusedly, before turning its gaze to me. It growled, as did Umbreon when it heard it. Makuhita then threw a punch at me, but Umbreon knocked it out of the way with Secret Power before it came anywhere near me and I quickly returned it to its Pokéball.

"Well, that didn't work…" I muttered, pocketing Makuhita's Pokéball and pulling out Bayleef's. "Maybe you'll be a little better." I threw the ball into the air and Bayleef appeared in front of me. It looked around confusedly, though it looked a lot more placid than Makuhita did. I stood up, making it jump and glare at me. I held out a hand and muttered soothing words to try to make it calm down, to tell it I mean no harm. It seemed to consider this as I managed to reach it and touch its face with my hand. It stared at me as I stroked it, before it finally moved.

"Bay!" it cried, leaping on top of me in a playful manner. Umbreon growled and made to attack, but stopped when it realised Bayleef wasn't actually attacking me. Well, it wasn't exactly comfortable having a Bayleef standing on top of you, but at least it wasn't trying to hurt me. I laughed along with it as it ran around me and cried out happily.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps. I stood up, as did Bayleef, to see Rui standing behind the fountain, watching us with a nervous look on her face. I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms.

"What're you doing up?" I asked. She stammered a little with her answer.

"Well… I s-saw you were gone, so I came out here to find you… b-but…" She paused for a moment, but I already knew why she hadn't come up to tell me she was up.

"You're still scared of these Pokémon, aren't you?" I said. Rui hesitated a little, before nodding. She looked ashamed of herself, like she thought I'd think she was a coward. Usually, I would think someone was a coward for being scared of them, but I could understand Rui's reason. She had been attacked numerous times by these Pokémon. I sighed, stepping up to her. Bayleef and Umbreon followed behind me.

"W-what're you…?" she started, but she jumped back when I gestured for Bayleef to walk up to her.

"She's harmless," I assured, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. I could feel her shaking as Bayleef stepped in front of her, looking up at her curiously. "Just give her a pat. She won't attack you, I promise."

Rui hesitated for a bit before reaching a hand out and touching Bayleef on the face and stroking it nervously. Bayleef beamed at her and jumped up and down a little, shocking Rui into jumping back.

"Bay!" cried Bayleef. I heard Rui laugh a little before she reached a hand out and patted the Pokémon again, this time a little less nervously.

"Where's Makuhita?" she asked, turning her gaze to me. I looked at the ground and shook my head, a dark shadow covering my eyes.

"He's no good. He tried to attack me as soon as I sent him out," I sighed. Rui flinched a little just at the thought, but then she looked down at Bayleef and her face brightened a little.

"Maybe we could get Bayleef to help with that," she said. "I mean, she has a dark aura, too. Maybe she could be an influence. I guess even Pokémon like this have different personalities."

"Yeah, but we should still be careful," I muttered, rubbing my chin. "They could have mood swings at any time. We have to be on guard." Rui nodded briskly before I continued. "That said, it's getting late. We should get back and get some sleep before we try to work on Makuhita's issues."

"Alright," Rui said, before yawning loudly. I returned Bayleef to its Pokéball but left Umbreon out, and the three of us walked back to the Pokémon Center, both looking forward to, and dreading, what lay ahead of us.

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**Misa: Well, looks like we're done here. Stay tuned for chapter three, and don't forget to review!**


	3. Nothing Behind the Bookshelf

**Pokémon Colosseum: Darkness of Orre**

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**Misa: What's up? Misa here! *Sigh* Well, I'm back with another chapter of Pokémon Colosseum: Darkness of Orre. Well, I meant to upload this around last Wednesday, but that plan was shattered when my English teacher decided that giving the class three surprise essays was a brilliant idea, so I spent all the time I had planned out for writing doing that instead… anyway, I won't keep you any longer. Take it away, disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: Misa doesn't own Pokémon, though it's kind of obvious because no one would trust a fourteen-year-old girl to run a company like that… *Sigh* Maybe when I'm older…**

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I stepped out of the Pokémon Center in the early morning light. The sun was only just rising, and a fresh breeze that seemed to be coming out of nowhere brushed my face. Rui stepped out behind me, yawning and stretching in the morning air. She looked around, seeming a little confused. I turned around to face her and raised a questionable eyebrow. She seemed to see the question I was about to ask in my eyes and answered it instantly.

"Where're we going now, then?" she asked, replying to my unasked question. Come to think of it, I wasn't sure where we were going next. I hadn't really planned anything. Heck, with what I'd been through as part of Team Snagem, going around and stealing Pokémon off of people seemed easy. Unfortunately, now that they knew I was a threat, and I had Rui with me, they were probably being about twice as cautious. I thought they'd just pop out of nowhere looking for a fight, but oh, how wrong I was.

"Not really sure…" I admitted, after thinking about the matter for awhile. "I guess that yesterday, things just got thrown at us, but today that hasn't happened yet. Maybe if we just wait around for a bit then we'll see something that might lead us to where Team Snagem might be hiding."

"Well, I doesn't seem like the most practical thing to do," sighed Rui, ruffling one of her pigtails and stepping in front of me, looking around curiously. "But I guess there's not much else we can do. I'm not really sure where to start looking for those weird Pokémon. Maybe we should train Bayleef a little, get her used to us."

I wasn't surprised Rui avoided mentioning Makuhita. With what she'd been through already with that Pokémon, I wouldn't be surprised if she never allowed me to let it out into the open again.

"Yeah, alright," I said, nodding quickly and pulling out Bayleef's Pokéball. "But where can we train here. There's not really much space."

"There's the Pre-Gym." The voice came up from behind us, but it was unfamiliar to my ears. I turned around to see a man wearing a long white coat with indigo hair standing behind us. "It's where Trainers go to train their Pokémon."

"Alright…" I replied, though still a little surprised that the guy had come up to us so suddenly, but I guessed that we wouldn't really find another good place to train without leaving the town. "Where do we go?"

"Just follow me," said the man. Rui and I nodded and we followed him through the city, up some stairs and into the centre of a circular platform surrounded by water, where a large, circular shaped building sat in the middle of it. It looked to be made of white concrete, with blue automatic doors that had some strange, swirly pattern engraved on it. "This is the Pre-Gym. Do go inside."

I nodded again before walking through the doors to enter into a large room with a relatively small battlefield in the middle. There were two square platforms either side of it, one looked as if there was some class being held there. The other had some sort of control panel, which the man went up and sat on a chair in front of it, before gesturing to the battlefield, which I walked up to and stood on the right side of it. The man then pressed a button and the Pokéball-shaped elevator at the back of the field rose quickly and a boy wearing an orange jacket, blue shorts with spiky brown hair stepped out of it. The man at the control panel smiled.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Justy," he explained. "I manage this here Pre-Gym. You'll be facing off against four Trainers, each of them focussing on a certain type of Pokémon. When you're ready…"

I nodded and waited for the guy opposite me to send out his Pokémon. He grinned at me before pulling out two Pokéballs.

"My name's Botan, and if you feel like taking on some Grass-type Pokémon, then I'm your guy!" he declared, throwing the two Pokéballs into the air to reveal a Sunkern and a Hoppip. I sent out Umbreon and Bayleef and we began battling.

"Okay, Umbreon, Bite on Sunkern. Bayleef, Shadow Rush on Hoppip!" I commanded, pointing to each of the Pokémon as I mentioned their names for emphasis.

"Hoppip, leap out of the way, and Sunkern, stop Umbreon with Absorb!" replied Botan quickly. Hoppip did as told, leaping out of the way of Bayleef, who landed on the ground neatly. Umbreon got hit with the Absorb, though not for long as before he could take too much damage, I ordered a Shadow Rush from Bayleef and Sunkern took a massive amount of damage.

"Good going!" I called. My Pokémon gave their respective cries before I ordered my next command. "Okay, Umbreon, use Bite on Sunkern. Bayleef, use Shadow Rush on Hoppip!"

And with that, Sunkern and Hoppip were taken down. Botan left the field through the elevator and a new Trainer stepped out of it. This one was a girl, with a short blue and white dress and long red boots.

"My name is Liqui! I like Water-types!" she proclaimed proudly, sending out her two Pokémon; a Marill and a Surskit. I sweatdropped upon hearing her name; people in the Orre Region tend to have ridiculous names, but this one was even more ridiculous.

"You're a Water-type Trainer and your name is Liqui…" I muttered, recalling Umbreon and sending out Espeon in his place. Up until now, I didn't know Liquid was a name, let alone that same word without the "d" at the end.

"Surskit, use Bubble!" ordered Liqui. "Marill, use Water Gun! Both aim for the Bayleef."

"Espeon, pick up Bayleef with Confusion!" I countered, and Bayleef was lifted up into the air, dodging the attacks, before being placed back on the ground once again. "Good, now Espeon, use Confusion to hold both of them still. Bayleef, attack with Shadow Rush!"

Bayleef hit the two Pokémon straight on due to them not being able to move. Espeon then hit them with a powerful Return upon my orders, which knocked out Surskit, but the Marill was still standing.

"Marill, use Water Gun again!"

This time, the attack hit Bayleef spot on, but didn't really do much due to Bayleef being Grass-type, and the Pokémon merely shook the attack off before charging in for another Shadow Rush, this time taking it out. Liqui returned her Pokémon and left the field through the elevator. The next person to appear was a boy wearing clothes that looked like they were far more expensive than anything I, or any normal person, could afford. He had a Trapinch and a Swinub, though Bayleef took them both out pretty easily as she managed to learn Razor Leaf in the battle, with Espeon holding them still with Confusion. The last battle was against a person who used rock type Pokémon, namely a Geodude and a Rhyhorn, though once again Bayleef shone in this battle.

After we'd finished, Justy stepped onto the battlefield and stood in front of us. He had a weird look on his face as he looked down at Bayleef, who was looking ridiculously proud of herself.

"That Pokémon…" he muttered, staring at her. Bayleef glared, looking ready to lash out at the unfamiliar face. "It used that weird move… Shadow Rush, I think it was called?"

"Yeah, we took it from Team Snagem," explained Rui. The then continued to explain how she could see the strange black auras on some Pokémon and about Team Snagem and myself. Justy seemed to take the news okay, though he seemed a little shocked when he heard I was an ex-Team Snagem member.

"Alright, I think I got all of that," he said, nodding once she was finished. "But you said that the Pokémon had a strange black aura… oh! That reminds me of something I heard when Team Snagem were in the city." I nodded, urging him to go on. Every little bit of information we could get was crucial. "Well, they said something about performing experiments on Pokémon to shut the doors to their hearts and make them stronger."

"Shut the doors to their hearts?" gasped Rui. "That sounds… kinda brutal."

"Sounds kinda cheesy to me…" I muttered, but I shut up when Rui elbowed me in the arm. Hard, I might add. "Anyway, thanks for the info. Do you know anything else that might be useful?"

"Well, there's a town called Pyrite," continued Justy. "Usually, the crime rate is pretty bad. It's a pretty crumby town, but recently I got a call saying that the crime rate has increased dramatically over the past week or so. It might be in your best interests to go and check it out."

"Come to think of it, Pyrite was where I was when I got kidnapped," muttered Rui absentmindedly.

"Well, we'll have to be careful, then," I replied. "Don't want you getting nabbed again. Anyway, thanks, Justy, but we'll be off now."

"Oh, also, you should come back when you've done a little more training," said Justy quickly, before we could step foot out the door. "That's when I'll be your opponent. I'll look forward to that day, Wes."

"Same here," I said, nodding firmly, before Rui and I left for the entrance to the city, jumped on my bike, and rode off to Pyrite Town. Well, almost to Pyrite Town, because before we could get there we drove past a large construction lot. I pulled over at the entrance, looked at Rui, who nodded, and we walked down the steps. It looked like a ridiculously large building was being built, but for now it was filled with piles upon piles of scrap metal and building tools. We walked through there, kicking pieces of rock and corrugated iron around as we did so. I felt an eerie air here, though I wasn't sure why. The air didn't seem normal at all. Maybe it was just the fact that the people building the place didn't even care to tell us to get lost whilst we walked through there, but that wasn't exactly bad, just weird.

"What do you think they're building here?" asked Rui, looking around confusedly. I shrugged, wondering the same. Maybe that was what the eerie feel was; I had the feeling whatever they were building here wasn't going to be good. I smirked to myself, feeling like some sort of fortune teller, then I remembered how creepy fortune tellers usually are and dismissed the thought, feeling a little disgusted at the fact that I was trying to imagine myself as some horrible old witch that always spoke in a croaky voice and has killed Arceus knows how many people. Finally, I sighed, turning around and walking back to the bike.

"Let's ditch," I said simply. "There's nothing here that's of interest."

"Alright, but I wonder what's going to be built here," wondered Rui absentmindedly. "It looks like a pretty big project with all the land they've flattened."

I nodded, before gesturing towards my bike, which fit in very well with the area around us. Rui sighed, nodding slightly, and the two of us made our way back to the bike, deciding it was pointless to look around the place anymore until the building was finished, and even then we probably wouldn't really need to.

Finally, a little while after that, we reached Pyrite Town. I covered my nose and resisted the urge to gag. The air didn't smell like air at all; more like a various array of gases and burnt up petrel that mixed together to form a whole knew level of pollution. You could practically see the air, and various vents and drains dripped some sort of purple liquid that couldn't be healthy at all. Even though I'd been to Pyrite numerous times, I'd still never gotten used to the smell (and taste) of the air. The people didn't look much more brilliant, most of them looking like rough backpackers that you would never even think about going near. Everything was rusty and dirty, even the colosseum at the end of town able to be seen from the second you step foot into Pyrite looked like it was going to collapse at any moment.

"Aw, Officer Johnson, give a man a break here!"

We turned to see a rough looking guy in a blue shirt and blue baggy pants with oddly coloured green hair standing in front of a tall, lanky officer. From first glance I could tell the officer was an idiot, though I wouldn't exactly tell him that. The rough looking guy was standing in front of him with an (attempted) innocent look on his face, though you'd have to be an idiot to have to fall for it.

"Can't you see, I don't know anything!" continued the rough guy, though when the officer's face softened slightly I could see the smirk spreading across his dirty face.

"That'd better be true, Cail," sighed Johnson. "If you're trying to con me, I'll know about it!"

"Mr. Johnson, sir, you know I wouldn't even think about lying to you!" said Cail, the hidden smirk growing even bigger.

"Alright, I'll let you off easy today," sighed Johnson. "See you!"

Like I said, you'd have to be an idiot to believe that guy, and that officer fit the bill pretty well.

"Hah! What a nitwit, of course I don't have anything to tell you," laughed Cail. Rui and I sweatdropped simultaneously, looking between each other and Cail.

"Wow…" I muttered. "People here are a whole knew level of idiotic."

"I wouldn't underestimate them, though," mumbled Rui. "It was here that I got grabbed by those thugs for seeing that strange Pokémon."

"Well, then, we'll just be even more careful," I said, looking around with an eagle-eye. We trudged through the city, keeping an eye on what was happening around us. I had an odd suspicion that the rising level of crime in the city had something to do with Team Snagem. Actually, it was more than a suspicion. Back when I was in Team Snagem, I'd come here all the time to nab Pokémon, and I hoped to Arceus that no one I'd stolen them off would spot me.

I looked up to the first shop in town to see a large, chipped sign above the door reading "Fateen's Fortunes." The text was barely legible, however, and I had to squint my eyes in order to read it properly. Again, I was reminded of the fortune taller witch me that I'd thought up before, and it once again sent shivers down my spine. Eventually, we reached the Police Office, with probably the only legible sign in the entire town. I looked at Rui, who nodded and we walked into the office to see a man in a blue police uniform, similar to Johnson's, only much more official-looking, with spiky silver hair. He glared at us for a moment, realising we were outsiders, though he stopped when I felt someone crash into me with a _thud. _The man let out an "ouch" before he began speaking.

"C-chief, there's trouble afoot!" Johnson panted, shaking his head in his hands trying to regain his composure. "There've been thugs witnessed using strange Pokémon!"

My eyes shot to Rui, who was looking a little terrified.

"Oh, wait, you're not the chief!" exclaimed Johnson, before running beside us and addressing the real chief. "Chief…!"

"I know, I've heard the same story being used over and over," sighed the chief. "Now, what do you two want?"

"That," I said. "We wanted to know if there were any people here using weird Pokémon, but it looks like that question's been answered for us before we even asked."

"So, are you planning on doing anything about it?" asked chief, urging us to go on. Rui nodded quickly.

"Yes, we are," she replied. "We need to snag them from the people before they can do any harm, but…"

"Oh, don't worry about that," continued chief. "I'm assuming that means stealing them, but if it gets the Pokémon out, then we might be able to lower the crime level again, not that that's very low, but it's better than this. Also, you may want to pay Duking a visit. He lives across the road from here. He's the one who runs the colosseum, but lately he hasn't been doing his job as well as he could. Anyway, he might be able to tell you something."

"Alright…" I muttered. "Rui, let's go!"

"Right."

We left the police office and stepped out onto the streets once more, though I think I preferred it in the police office due to the inhabitants of the building knowing about air freshener. We walked across the street to see a large house that we assumed to be Duking's, as it looked a tiny little bit less rusty than the rest of the houses. We knocked on the door and heard someone call "Come in," so we did.

When we walked in we saw a ridiculously large and muscular man sitting at a desk. His arms were probably around twice the width of his face and he had little to no neck. From what I could see above the desk, he wore a white t-shirt and had brown hair that fell down is back, looking very greasy, and a long moustache spread across his upper lip.

"The name's Duking," he stated, placing his arms on the desk. "You two don't look familiar, are you travellers?"

"Yeah, I'm Rui," said Rui, "and this is Wes. We were wondering if you know anything about the raising crime rate in the town."

"Well, I'm afraid I can't tell you that," explained Duking. "Only thing I can do is encourage you to go and challenge to colosseum. Maybe you'll find something out there. Now, I'm busy, so leave me be, please."

I sweatdropped at the rather gruffly added "Please" at the end of the sentence which didn't make the phrase seem any kinder or more polite. As I rolled my eyes, a little out of annoyance, I noticed a kid wearing a green t-shirt and grey jeans standing guard in front of a bookshelf. I say standing guard because he was standing in front of it with his arms crossed in a dignified manner, as if pretending to be larger than he actually was. As soon as I approached him, he took one look at me and suddenly looked terrified.

"I-I… Uh, don't look at me!" he stammered. "Or the bookshelf. Nope, the bookshelf does not want to be looked at, because we hide nothing special behind here. Nope, nothing, nada, so go on, be on your merry way and _don't look at the bookshelf…_ hey, what are you doing?"

"Looking behind the bookshelf," I said simply, pulling out a book and seeing a small, red button behind it. The kid jumped back, looking like he was about to cry. I just smirked at I pushed the button and the bookshelf shifted to the side, revealing a door to what seemed like some sort of dungeon.

"Nothing special, eh?" asked Rui, raising an eyebrow. "I don't know, seems pretty interesting if you ask me. Don't worry, we won't be too long." She then followed me down the steps and into the cave, where we saw a small group of kids sitting around a table discussing something that seemed pretty complicated for kids who only looked around ten years old.

"Now, we have to find a way to rescue the Pokémon…" muttered a boy sitting at the end of the table. "Hey, how'd you get in here?"

"Oh." I coughed lightly before continuing, clearing my throat before putting on a high squeaky voice. "Uhem, "oh, no, there's nothing special behind this bookshelf. Nope, nothing, so don't look at the bookshelf, because there's _absolutely nothing special behind it!"_ Yeah, something like that," I finished. Rui sweatdropped along with a few of the other kids.

"Hey, what were you talking about just then?" asked Rui curiously, raising an eyebrow. The kids looked at each other nervously before one of them decided to speak.

"We were talking about the Shadow Pokémon that are roaming around the town," explained one of the boys. "They hurt people and are controlled by bad people, but we don't know where they get the Pokémon from."

"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" I said quickly, holding my hands up. "Shadow Pokémon? That's what they're called? How did you know about that?"

"Yeah, well, I sort of just heard it a few times in passing," shrugged the kid. "But I assume that's what those Pokémon are called. It seems like a pretty dark name, don't you think? Why do you want to know?"

"Y'see," started Rui, "Wes and I have been chasing this gang of people ever since they kidnapped me here. I can tell which of those Pokémon are Shadow Pokémon due to them having a dark aura around them which only I can see as far as we know."

"Don't tell them all of it!" I hissed. Rui giggled lightly.

"Why? They're kids, what harm can they do?" she replied. "Besides, they gave us useful information, so we may as well come clean, too."

"So you two are fighting the bad guys?" said a little girl excitedly. "Great, we here at the Kids Grid will help you as best as we can!"

"Uh, sounds good…" I muttered, though I'll admit I wasn't too thrilled about having a bunch of kids joining us. "Well, we'd better be going. You guys be careful and stay out of trouble, okay?" The kids nodded at me and I turned around to leave. Before I could, however, I turned around and looked back at them. "Oh, yeah, and you might want to get a better bodyguard."

"Huh, right…" muttered the boy as Rui and I walked up the stairs and back into Duking's house. We stopped, however, when we saw a relatively short man arguing with Duking at his desk. He had silvery blonde hair and wore a blue shirt with black shorts, and he looked extremely ticked off.

"Duking!" he growled, slamming his hands down on the desk. Duking snapped back to his senses the voice. "How much more are you going to even take from Miror B. and his stooges? They're using you and the colosseum. It's like they've sucked the spirit right out of you!"

Duking sighed, putting his head down and shaking it slowly, as if a little annoyed by the guy's presence. He then turned his head away, crossing his arms and refusing to speak. This ticked off the guy in front of him even more.

"You know what? I've lost faith in you," he sighed, taking his hands off of the desk and walking out of the room. I raised an eyebrow and turned to the "bodyguard" of the Kids Grid cave.

"Who's that?" I asked. The kid turned to us, looking a little scared.

"Oh, him? That's Silva, Duking's friend," he explained quickly. "But he was really angry. His face looked all scary."

"Alright, thanks," I said absentmindedly, before Rui and I left the room, not even thinking about looking back at Duking as we left. Once we got outside, I turned to Rui.

"Looks like Miror B.'s using the colosseum for something then," I sighed, crossing my arms and shaking my head. "When will they learn to just give up while they have the chance?"

"Well, I have a feeling they're going to be very annoyed when they realise we'll be stopping them again," giggled Rui. "But first we need to figure out what they're exactly doing with the colosseum before we find out how to stop it."

I nodded, and we continued on our way through the town. A few minutes later, we reached a large town clearing with a relatively large circle imprinted on the ground. In the clearing, there were a bunch of Trainers battling their Pokémon, none of them looking particularly friendly. Most of them were arguing loudly or accusing one another of cheating in some way, shape or form. I turned to Rui, seeing if maybe they held Shadow Pokémon, but she just shook her head, as if reading the question through the look on my face. I nodded and we made our way around the battles, the clearing apparently known as Duel Square according to the large sign placed in front of it. Personally, I didn't think having a battle square right in the middle of town that isn't blocked off by anything was a particularly good idea, but I shrugged the thought off when I looked up to see a man stumbling out of a large building with a loud, creaky windmill placed on top of it. The man then fell onto the ground, breathing heavily. Rui instantly rushed to his aid.

"Oh, are you okay?" she asked hesitantly, kneeling next to him and shaking him slightly. The man nodded, but then looked up at me helplessly.

"The chief's inside. Silva came and…" He paused there and didn't say anything more, and Rui and I rushed into the windmill, where a man wearing an orange jumpsuit and grey earmuffs was lying on the ground, looking utterly hopeless.

"Ugh, that Silva's gone and done it this time…" he grumbled, looking up at us. "He ripped out and ran off with one of the gears…" I looked over to the collection of gears at the back of the room which were failing to turn due to large gap between two of them, where a gear was missing. "The colosseum's going to be without power."

At that moment, the police chief and officer Johnson ran into the room to examine the place.

"Chief Sherles!" coughed the man lying on the floor.

"Are you alright," asked Chief Sherles hastily. The man groaned slightly, but stood up and nodded, holding his back.

"Only thing bruised is my pride," he said, shaking his head. "It was only Silva, so I wasn't expecting any trouble."

"Silva?" exclaimed Johnson. "But isn't he's Duking's trusted lieutenant? What would his motive be for doing this?"

"He came in ranting about how the colosseum had to be shut down," sighed the man. I turned to Sherles.

"We'll go get the gear," I said quickly. Rui gasped slightly, but I elbowed her so she wouldn't say anything before dragging her out of the room.

"Why would be get the gear back?" she blurted out as we stepped back onto the streets. "Silva said that Miror B. was using the colosseum. Wouldn't it be better to just leave the gear out and stop him from using it?"

"We have to find out what they're doing with the colosseum," I explained. "We can't do that if it's not running. We need to enter to find out what's really up, or ask some townsfolk for any information they might have." Rui seemed to understand where I was going with this and nodded.

"Alright, but the gear could be anywhere. Where do we even start?" she asked, looking around confusedly as if the gear was going to pop up at any moment.

"Well, we could look in the construction lot," I said, shrugging. "A plain old gear wouldn't really stand out there, so it'd be a good spot to hide things."

Rui nodded again and we made to leave the town. At the entrance, we saw Cail, who was standing next to a Furret. I was about to walk straight past it, but Rui grabbed my coat to stop me from going any further. I turned around, then looked back to the Furret, then back to Rui.

"Shadow Pokémon," she whispered, pointing toward the Furret and suddenly looking even more nervous than she had been. I stepped up to Cail, who glared at me and raised an eyebrow.

"What, you looking for a battle or something?" he demanded. I nodded, pulling out Espeon and Umbreon's Pokéballs and tossing them into the air. Cail pulled out one more Pokéball and sent out a Ralts.

"Umbreon, you take Ralts. Espeon, I'm leaving Furret up to you," I called. Umbreon nodded, going in to attack Ralts with a Bite attack. "Alright, Espeon, Confusion!"

Espeon lifted up Furret into the air and sent it flying. Ralts was knocked out pretty quickly as it couldn't exactly do anything to Umbreon with its Psychic-type moves. Eventually, it was two against one with Furret. Cail, however, didn't look intimidated at all; obviously thinking that he was going to win because he had a much more powerful Pokémon than us. Logically, he did, but I had Snag Balls and a Snag Machine.

"Alright, let's get this over with," I said, pulling out a Pokéball and charging it up with the Snag Machine. "Go, Pokéball!"

Cail's mouth dropped open as the Pokéball grabbed his Pokémon and began to twitch. Once it was caught, he was looking absolutely dumbstruck. I walked over casually and picked up my new Furret.

"But… you…" spluttered Cail. "_What the hell just happened?"_

"That Pokémon was a Shadow Pokémon, so we had to take it so it wouldn't cause harm to you or other people in the town," explained Rui. Cail growled at us.

"I won that Pokémon from the colosseum challenge," he grumbled.

"Wait," I started. "Who gave it to you?"

"Some shady looking people," shrugged Cail. "I didn't really know much about it, but they said they'd give me a cool Pokémon. It seemed better than the prize I got from the receptionist, so I took it."

"Hang on, so a shady guy comes up to you, says he's going to give you a Pokémon, takes you into a weird building, and you just go along with it?" I exclaimed. Cail shrugged and nodded again.

"As I said, they said they'd give me a cool Pokémon."

I turned to Rui before speaking. "We have to get the colosseum back up and running again," I growled, before we leaped onto my bike and rode off to the construction lot.

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**Misa: Well, I tried to make it kinda long since I couldn't update earlier. Also, I'm starting to get a whole lot of assignments and stuff for school, so I may be a little slow on the updates, but I'll fit this in whenever possible around that and my Black and White fic. Until then, stay tuned and make sure to review!**


	4. Dueling in Pyrite

**Pokémon Colosseum: Darkness of Orre**

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**Misa: Hey, everybody! I'm back, after a few weeks of break (actually, it wasn't much of a break. The only reason I haven't been writing is because we got five assignments in one day. Arceus I hate exam week…). Anyway, that aside, I have the newest chapter, and I tried to make it kinda long since the next one may be a bit of a wait since I'm still not done with exams yet. Anyway, on to the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: Misa doesn't own Pokémon. Why are you looking at me like that? You think I'm lying? Well, I'm not, so just read the damn chapter!**

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"I trust things are going to plan, Miror B."

A man cloaked in purple with long white hair falling down his back was stationed on the screen in front of Miror B. He had a rather intimidating look on his face, but his eyes were glinted with satisfaction.

"Oh, yes, master Nascour, our plan is coming along in a lovely, peachy-keen way!" stated Miror B. "Our gang is giving out Shadow Pokémon just as planned, and we're gathering data successfully." He turned to two girls next to him, who were each standing up straight, apparently trying to look official.

"Good, our plan is coming along quite nicely." Nascour smirked. "Our Shadow Pokémon plan is falling to place quickly. The final phase will come sooner than expected."

"Oh, this is perking up my spirit and body!" said Miror B. "Oh, I feel like dancing!"

"Save the dancing for later," snorted Nascour, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "I have work to do."

And with that, the screen turned off automatically, leaving only black. Miror B. turned to the girls beside him, who both saluted officially.

"Well, then, I shall return to the cave where my darling Pokémon await my return!" He posed in some sort of groovy dance fashion, and music automatically played around the room. He then left, leaving the two girls standing there, looking a little confused.

"I'll never understand how he does that," sighed the one with red hair, shaking her head.

"I know, he doesn't even press anything," replied the girl with purple hair. The two shook their heads.

"Boss is a strange one, alright."

-.-.-

We returned from the construction lot with a gear in our possetion. Rui was looking much more proud of herself than I was, and was skipping along the road with a spring in her step, kicking up dirt as she went.

"Well, it was pretty easy finding the gear, huh!" she chirped, running a few metres ahead of me before stopping and waiting for me to catch up. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms as I walked, trying to keep a straight face.

"You only found it that quickly because I tripped over it," I snapped, turning my gaze away from her purposely. She giggled slightly, grinning mischievously at me.

"Well, you just need to be more careful, then!" she giggled, skipping up to me and poking the scrape I'd gotten on my nose when I'd fallen. "Now let's go, we need to get you a bandage for that. And before you argue, no, scars do not make you look tougher, they make you look like a klutz, which you are."

"I'm not a klutz," I growled under my breath, though this went pretty much unnoticed by Rui, who'd instead turned her attention ahead of us in the direction of duel square. I too looked at where her gaze pointed, only to see a whole ton of Trainers battling with overly aggressive Pokémon. Judging by the look on Rui's face, I could tell they must have been Shadow Pokémon, so I walked up to her and glared at the scene. "Looks like the Colosseum can wait, this looks more important."

We walked slowly and cautiously up to the square, and I noticed Rui glancing around nervously as if someone was about to jump out at her and grab her. I made sure not to go too far ahead of her, knowing that she'd be nervous in this town, and stepped foot into Duel Square. The moment I did so, I felt the steely, aggressive eyes of the Trainers staring at me. Their eyes looked wide enough to be Noctowl's eyes, and their faces were dirty. The Pokémon they owned didn't look any nicer. A Quagsire was growling at me menacingly, staying put at the side of its Trainer, which was weird as Quagsire are generally placid creatures. A Misdreavus looked like it was willing to suck the soul out of me at any moment, and a Flaaffy was charging up the electricity in its wool. I grunted, stepping forward a few more steps, before pointing at the Trainers with the Noctowl and Misdreavus.

"Battle, now," I demanded, staring them down. The two looked at each other before smirking evilly and nodding simultaneously. Their Pokémon did the same thing, though the way they followed their Trainers' actions made them seem almost like robots. It was a little creepy, really.

"Alright, then," said the guy on the left. "Double battle, me and him versus you."

"You're on." Everyone made some sort of weird whooping sound, which I think was meant to be some sort of battle cry, and punched the air with their fists a few times, before stepping out of the ring and onto the sidelines to watch the battle. I pulled out Umbreon and Bayleef's Pokéballs once I got into position on the opposite side of the ring. I turned around to Rui to check that she was still okay. She nodded at me reassuringly, though she didn't look too comfortable with all the scary-looking men around. I rolled my eyes, sending out Espeon to keep her company. She mouthed thank you and I smiled slightly.

"Alright, Bayleef and Umbreon, you've got this!"

"Bay!"

"Umbre!"

"Misdreavus, destroy them!"

"Noctowl, take them on!"

"Misdreavus!"

"Towl!"

"Alright, we'll start this off then," I said enthusiastically, pointing a finger to Umbreon and Bayleef. "Bayleef, use Razor Leaf on both of them, Umbreon, use Bite on Misdreavus!"

The battle sprung into action not a moment later. Umbreon leaped through the air, cleverly avoiding the leaves shooting through the air at the two opponent's Pokémon, making whooshing sounds as they did so, and crunched down on Misdreavus, who was also hit by the Razor Leaf sent in by Bayleef. The Ghost-type shrieked, before dissolving into thin-air to avoid getting hit anymore and reappearing behind Noctowl, who'd flown high up into the air to avoid getting hit by anything.

"Okay, we can take that." Misdreavus' Trainer smirked. "Misdreavus, get 'em back with Shadow Rush!"

"Noctowl, do the same!"

The two Shadow Pokémon became cloaked in a shadowy fire, which flickered around them and licked their bodies, before crashing down on my two Pokémon. Umbreon swiftly dodged the attack, though Bayleef's eyes began to glow orange and before I knew it, the Grass-type was becoming surrounded in an orange light. Noctowl hit it head on, but was stopped in its tracks, though it kept pushing until the barrier began to shatter and it managed to break through. However, this gave Bayleef time to compose herself, and she leaped out of the way, causing Noctowl to hit the ground where she used to be.

"Awesome, we learned Reflect!" I exclaimed, punching the air happily. "Oh, and two can play at the Shadow Rush game! Bayleef, use Shadow Rush on Misdreavus. Umbreon, use Secret Power on Noctowl!"

Both attacks hit head on, and Misdreavus was sent crashing to the ground, though it was still standing, well, _floating, _at least.

"Grr!" grunted Noctowl's Trainer. "Okay, Noctowl, get that stupid dog back with Shadow Rush!"

"Umbreon, counter with Secret Power," I called. "Bayleef, throw up another Reflect to protect Umbreon. Leave Misdreavus to me!" I grinned to myself, pulling a Pokéball out of my pocked and charging it up with the Snag Machine, before hurling it at a shocked looking Misdreavus and smirking at an even shocked looking Trainer. Silver light shot out of the Pokéball, and the Pokémon was snatched up into it. It then landed on the ground and twitched once, twice, three times, and then sealed with a _click_.

Meanwhile, Umbreon was still battling with Noctowl, who couldn't get anywhere near the Dark-type due to Bayleef's Reflect being in the way. I held up a hand, signalling for Umbreon to stand down from the tired looking Noctowl, before chucking a Snag Ball at it. It, too, clicked three times, before sealing itself. I looked up at the shocked looking Trainers and grinned mischievously, before stepping over to the Pokéballs on the ground, picking them up, and pocketing them.

"Well, how's that for a battle," I said, smiling, and I was sure there had to be some sort of evil glint in my eyes.

"Dammit!" growled the former Misdreavus Trainer. "We won those Pokémon from the Colosseum. Isn't it illegal to steal Pokémon?"

"In this case, no." I smirked, before looking around at the remaining four Trainers who I was yet to battle. "So, who's next?"

"I'll take you on!" declared on of them. A girl around my own age stepped up in front of me and crossed her arms. Her Flaaffy followed her, still sparking with electricity. "No one can take me and Flaaffy down. Besides, I've seen your battle style, it's amateur."

"I'll join you," said another girl, this one had a Skiploom hovering along beside her, though it looked a decent amount more positive than the rest of them.

"Alright, Umbreon, stand back, I'll take Espeon for this," I called. Umbreon obeyed, leaping back to stand by Rui's side where Espeon previously stood. "Bayleef, you stay in."

"Bay!"

"Esp!"

"Okay, Espeon, use Confusion on Flaaffy before they get the chance to attack!" I commanded. Espeon obeyed, her eyes glowing purple as she lifted Flaaffy off the ground. "Great, now throw it into the wall. Bayleef, use Razor Leaf on both of them!"

"Bay!" cried Bayleef as she shot a stream of razor-sharp leaves at her opponents. It didn't do much on Skiploom, but Flaaffy took a whole ton of damage.

"We're dominating!" I struck the air with my fist enthusiastically. "Espeon, use Return on Skiploom. Bayleef, use Shadow Rush on Flaaffy!"

"Flaaffy, protect yourself with Cotton Spore!"

Before Bayleef got anywhere near Flaaffy, it found itself covered in cotton and unable to move. It fell to the ground, its feet glued together by the thick white fluff. On the other half of the battle, Skiploom got hit with Return and fell to the ground. I threw a Pokéball at it and successfully caught it.

"Flaaffy, now use Thundershock!"

Espeon got hit with the bolt of electricity that got shot from Flaaffy's body, but managed to take the hit. Bayleef was finished rolling around on the ground like an idiot and had managed to get the cotton off its body. I heard a gasp and turned around to see Rui looking utterly terrified.

"Wes, it's Bayleef's aura!" she exclaimed, pointing a shaking hand towards my Pokémon. "It's glowing dark red, not purple like it usually is."

"What the…" I muttered, turning back around. Bayleef looked more angry than usual, which wasn't hard as Bayleef was a ridiculously annoying and playful Pokémon. Before I knew it, she was charging at the two Trainers on the other side of the battle field. The two girls shrieked and jumped back, hugging each other tightly and squealing their lungs out. I panicked a little before I heard them yell out,

"GET THIS STUPID DINOSAUR AWAY FROM US YOU MORON!"

"Bayleef, stop it!" I yelled. I would have yelled something else, but I didn't have enough time. Luckily for me, Bayleef stopping in her tracks when she heard her name. She seemed a little confused when she turned around to me. I was confused, too, but I took the opportunity while the girls were composing themselves to throw a Pokéball at Flaaffy, which was caught easily.

"What the… Hey, that's not fair!" snapped Flaaffy's former Trainer.

"Well, too late now," I said, shrugging innocently. The two girls growled before the final two of the Duel Square Trainers stepped up with their Pokémon by their sides. On had the angry looking Quagsire, the other, a Slugma. I recalled Bayleef, figuring that even though she'd be able to take down the Quagsire, she wouldn't be able to take a hit from the Slugma.

"Who're you going to use?" asked Rui. I stood, puzzled for a moment. I wasn't sure how Furret was going to react to being taken away from her Trainer, Espeon was already out, Umbreon was tired and Makuhita couldn't be used. Pretty much everyone else had just been caught. Before I could say anything else on the matter, however, Misdreavus let herself out of her Pokéball.

"Misdreavus!" she cried proudly, turning to me and grinning. From the moment I saw her smile, I could tell she was going to be trouble.

"Alright, then, if you're that desperate," I sighed, a little irritated by the Pokémon's sudden appearance. "Espeon, you're with Misdreavus on this one.

"Espe?" said Espeon confusedly, turning her head to the side. Misdreavus appeared behind her suddenly, laughing manically, causing her to jump back in shock. "Esp!" she snapped, glaring at the Ghost-type. Misdreavus just giggled a little, before turning her attention to the battle.

"Okay, Misdreavus, use Shadow Rush on Slugma," I began. "Espeon, use Confusion on Quagsire!"

My two Pokémon charged at their opponents. However annoying Misdreavus was, at least I knew she could be relied on to battle as far as I'd seen. Quagsire's Trainer ordered for it to dodge, and it managed to avoid Espeon's eye contact. Slugma, on the other hand, was too slow for Misdreavus' shadowy charge, and was knocked backwards.

"Ugh!" groaned Slugma's Trainer, stomping the ground with his left foot. "Slugma, Ember that stupid ghost!"

Misdreavus looked a little offended at being called "stupid", so in response she disappeared into thin-air to dodge and reappeared right behind Slugma, before going in for another Shadow Rush, which knocked it back again. I threw a Pokéball at it and caught it easily. A few minutes later, Quagsire was taken down and caught, too.

"Darn it all!" cursed one of the Duel Square Trainers. "We all got beat by this idiot!"

"Yeah, suppose you did," I said simply, shrugging at the people in front of me. "Come on, Rui, let's get going to the windmill. We have unfinished work to do. But first…" I handed a few Pokéballs to Rui, the ones holding Slugma, Flaaffy, Skiploom, Makuhita and Quagsire. "I can't hold any more than six Pokémon, so you'll have to take these guys for a bit. Now let's go!"

"Right!" replied Rui hastily, shoving the Pokéballs in her bag and rushing after me nervously.

We reached the windmill to meet the chief of the windmill waiting outside. He looked absolutely delighted, giving us a toothy (very yellow) grin when we approached him. I also noticed he had a few teeth missing. I shuddered a little at the particularly unpleasant sight, but disregarded it once he began speaking to us.

"You got the gear!" he said, placing a hand on his chest and heaving a relieved sigh. "What a relief. I thought for sure you wouldn't be able to find it. Anyway," He took the gear from us, "come with me, I'll put it back in the windmill and we can get this place up and running again!" He spoke with way to much enthusiasm for my liking, especially when it was something as small as putting a gear into a slot.

We walked into the windmill and the chief fiddled around with the gears which remained in the mechanics, before smiling satisfactorily and placing the missing gear down in its rightful position. Once done, he walked (more like skipped) over to a lever and pulled it. It made a loud creaking sound as he did so, and it was very unpleasant to my sensitive ears. The next thing I heard was much worse than metal scraping against metal.

"_Ooooh, thirty long years of cranking gears, oh yeah!" _screeched chief, closing his eyes and punching the air, using the lever as a microphone and pulling a random metal pole out of nowhere and using it as an electric guitar. Rui and I sweatdropped simultaneously.

"Uh, we're gonna go," I announced. Rui was already edging out of the room backwards as I spoke. The chief nodded quickly, but didn't look at us.

"Make sure to check out the colosseum. Thanks for your help! _Oh, thirty long years…_"

The rest of the horrible, ear-splitting sound was drowned out when Rui quickly slammed the door shut.

"That was," she muttered, "_horrible!_"

"Tell me about it," I replied. "Anyway, let's not think about that now. With any luck, we'll never even have to look at that guy again. Let's just head to the Colosseum."

We headed to the back of the town, over a long rope bridge (we went over one-by-one as the whole thing felt like it was going to collapse under our weight when we both stepped on it at first) and into the large, white metal dome at the end of the town, which also looked like it was going to collapse at any moment. We approached the receptionist's desk slowly and overly cautiously.

"How can I help you," asked the receptionist, giving us a warm smile. She was a good change from all the other people in Pyrite, as she seemed almost normal compared to the others.

"I'd like to enter," I said, handing her my P*DA (or "Pokémon Digital Assistant"). She gladly took it and scanned it in front of her computer. The screen showed flashes of what looked like codes and a green bar at the bottom of the screen. Once the bar was full, "TRAINER DATA REGISTERED" was shown on the screen in large green letters. I took my P*DA back and pocketed it, nodding gratefully.

"All done, you're contestant number ten. Your friend can go in and watch, if she wants," said the receptionist. I turned to Rui, who nodded, before I went into the door on the right and she went into the door on the left.

Honestly, the place was creepy. Like, _really _creepy. The stairs creaked loudly and threateningly as I stepped down them slowly, and I was sure I could hear crumbles of wooden splinters falling off the bottom of the stairs as I stepped on each one of them. I felt suddenly safer once I got to the bottom of them, and I'd noticed I was gripping the railing much tighter than I could have been once I tried to let go. If I wasn't wearing gloves, I'd probably be covered in splinters right now.

The hallway led to a large, dull-looking, barely lit room that was filled with other Trainers and their Pokémon. At that point, the second I stopped walking, I felt a burst coming from my pocket and Misdreavus popped up beside me.

"Misdreavus!" she giggled, bobbing around me playfully. I rolled my eyes as she did so, but decided to leave her out.

"How the hell do you do that anyway…?" I wondered aloud to myself. Misdreavus laughed delightedly again, before settling herself in a spot of air beside my head. Two-by-two, Trainers were called to battle, and eventually myself and another Trainer were called to the battlefield. I looked at Misdreavus, making sure she was still beside me, before stepping through the doors to the battlefield.

The sound of a roaring crowd filled my ears as I stepped out, and I noticed this day was being filled up with ear-splitting sounds. First the rusty lever, then chief's "singing", and now this. I looked at Misdreavus and nodded at her, telling her that it was her turn to battle. She giggled happily before hovering up to the battlefield. I sent out Furret alongside her, figuring that battling in a closed, protected space would be better for battling with her than in the open.

"Let the battle begin!" called the commentator, after my opponent had sent out his two Pokémon. I smirked confidently as I called my first command.

"Furret, Shadow Rush!"

-.-.-

"Togetic is unable to battle, so Wes is the winner of the Pyrite Colosseum challenge!"

The crowd roared loudly. I smirked to myself as Umbreon and Espeon ran to my side, looking extremely proud of themselves. I grinned as I stroked them on their heads before we exited the battlefield to the front reception area and met Rui at the front, who was caught up in the crowd around her, attempting to push her way over to me. As soon as she managed to escape the clutches of the crowd, she jumped up and down excitedly a few times before rushing up to me.

"You did it, Wes, you won!" she sang, grinning widely at me. I couldn't help but smile, too, as we approached the front desk to collect my prize.

"Thanks," I said, taking my prize money from the receptionist lady and exiting the colosseum with Rui. "Uh, so now what do we do?"

"What do you mean?" asked the redhead, turning to me.

"Well, we won, so shouldn't we get a Shadow Pokémon? That's what everyone else got, right?" I raised an eyebrow, looking around, before shrugging dismissively. "Whatever, come on, maybe they'll come up to us."

I was right, of course. As soon a we stepped onto the rope bridge across to the other side of the town, two shady men wearing what looked like motorbike helmets came up to us. I couldn't see the expressions on their faces, but if I could they would probably be smirking.

"Hey, you guys won the Colosseum challenge, right?" one of them asked, looking around cautiously.

"Yeah," I replied, assuming these guys were the ones giving out Shadow Pokémon.

"Alright, come with us," said the other guy, turning around and walking back across the rope bridge. I shot Rui a glance, and she nodded confidently in response. We then followed the men across the bridge.

Once across, we were led into a large, multiple story building with glass doors that probably used to be automatic, but for now the door had to be lifted out of the way in order to enter the building as it was smashed in places. Next to the door was a rusty old vending machine that was spilling soda cans out of its smashed windows. A sign was lazily stuck to it which read "OUT OF ORDER", though I wasn't sure why it wouldn't be blatantly obvious to anyone's eyes. We stepped inside the building to see that the inside condition wasn't much better than the outside. The place obviously used to be divided into rooms with doors separating them, but now the walls were crumbled down low enough to just climb over them, and there was an occasional chipped wooden door lying on the ground. To the right of the room was a large elevator being guarded by a girl wearing a pink bandana, though I wouldn't really trust the elevator to hold more than two people, no matter how big it was. We were led to a reception desk in front of the front door, where a girl also wearing a biker helmet stood, leaning on the desk and tapping impatiently. Once the four of us walked in, she looked up and huffed.

"_Finally,"_ she grumbled, taking off her helmet and shaking her hair out of her eyes. "It's about time, I've been waiting here for ages!" One of the men who'd led us there sweatdropped.

"The challenge only ended about ten minutes ago, Raylene," he sighed, also taking his helmet off. Raylene stomped the ground and grunted.

"Don't use that tone with me, Isaac!" she snapped, flicking her raven-black hair out of her eyes. Isaac rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, Ray," he grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Whatever," sighed Raylene, shaking her head. "Anyway, are these the winners of the Colosseum challenge?" She eyed Rui and I with noticeable enthusiasm, flicking her gaze back and forth between us, before settling on me.

"Indeed they are!" said Isaac proudly, putting his hands on his hips and standing up a little taller than he had been.

"Well, then, it's a nice change," stated Raylene, smirking a little at me. "At least it's not another one of those stupid bodybuilders or thugs. This one actually looks slightly decent. Anyway, I'll just fetch your prize, which will be a very interesting Pokémon. Be right… hey, I've seen you guys' faces somewhere before! Y-you're the same two who messed with us in Phenac City!"

"W-what?" exclaimed Isaac. "I didn't know that when I let you in! I'll boot you back out! Cipher will defeat you!"

"Wait, Cipher?" muttered Rui. "I thought was Team Snagem who we defeated…"

Isaac and I both pulled out a Pokéball each simultaneously, ignoring Rui's comment.

"Well, I feel honoured that you remember me, but I'm afraid you're out of luck if you're thinking of winning." I smirked, releasing Noctowl and Furret. Isaac sent out Pineco and Yanma.

"Wes, Yanma's a Shadow Pokémon!" called Rui. I nodded before turning my attention back to the battle.

"Alright, Noctowl, go after Yanma with Shadow Rush, but be careful, it's fast!" I called. Noctowl nodded, cloaking itself in a shadowy aura and charging at Yanma. "Furret, Shadow Rush on Pineco!"

Pineco was taken down pretty much in one hit, as Furret's strength and stealth managed to overpower it. Yanma, on the other hand, was proving to be trouble. With its speed increasing every-so-often due to its ability, Noctowl was having a hard time getting close to it. Fortunately, Yanma wasn't exactly attacking either, just running away.

"Both go for it with Shadow Rush!" I commanded. Noctowl and Furret both came at it from different angles, and as soon as Yanma dodged Furret's hit, Noctowl landed a clean hit before it could compose itself. I charged up a Pokéball, throwing it before Yanma had the chance to move again. Before twitching thrice, it clicked loudly and I picked it up and handed it to Rui.

"Dammit!" growled Isaac, smacking his forehead. "I don't have a chance of winning."

"H-hold it!" Raylene fidgeted a little, sounding a little hesitant. "You brought him here."

Then the two both ran away, leaving only Rui and I in the room. We automatically began looking around. I climbed over the desk and began digging through a chest of metal drawers, the ones that weren't locked, anyway. Eventually, I pulled out an important looking folder.

"What's this?" I asked myself, opening it up. On the first page inside the folder were the words "Ein File" written in capital letters. I began flicking through the pages of the folder, being careful not to bend anything. "Hyper Mode," I began, just as Rui tuned in to what I was saying, "a state that Shadow Pokémon go into when their feelings build up inside of them, perhaps due to their overwhelming power. They may engage in strange behaviour, such as ignoring orders and attacking people, even their own Trainer. Hyper Mode is easily gotten rid of by calling the Pokémon's name in battle, however, calling the Pokémon will cause the door to its heart to open slightly. An alternate method is currently being researched and developed."

"That must be what happened to Bayleef earlier," said Rui, recalling the events that had happened when Bayleef attacked the other Trainer. "We should keep this, it might come in handy."

I nodded as she took the file and shoved it into her bag, which seemed to have limitless space as it didn't seem like something as big as the file could fit in there along with the Pokéballs she was now carrying. At that point, just as we were about to leave, Duking rushed in, followed by two kids we'd seen before in the Kids Grid.

"Oh, Wes, Rui, I'm so glad you're safe," he sighed, putting a hand on his chest in relief. "We heard you entered this building, so it had me worried. I'm glad to see that you're unharmed."

"Duking!" Rui had a serious look on her face, not like the usual grin she had when she met someone she was friends with or was happy to see. "This is where they were giving out Shadow Pokémon to the winners of the Colosseum challenge."

"Shadow Pokémon?" questioned Duking, before a light bulb in his head went off. "Oh, those ferocious Pokémon that attack people?" Rui nodded. Duking growled. "They were using the colosseum to do that?"

"Big lady!" said a girl standing beside Duking. She had red hair tied back into a ponytail with a white ribbon. "I'm Marcia, but my papa's Pokémon was taken away by those thugs as a prisoner! The man was tall and looked like he had a giant Pokéball hat on his head."

"Miror B.," Rui and I muttered simultaneously, obvious anger and hatred in our voices.

"Yes, it was my Plusle, and with it gone I'm afraid my own hands are tied," sighed Duking, looking utterly ashamed of himself. I turned to Rui, who nodded confidently.

"Let's go," I said, turning to Duking. "We'll get it back, don't you worry about a thing." Duking's eyes brightened.

"Be careful!" he called, as we continued on our way to the top of the building where we assumed Miror B. would be hiding.

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**Misa: Done! Ah, I'm glad I'm finished with this. Or maybe I'm not, 'cause now I have to go back to studying and completing homework. *Sigh* Wish me luck. Anyway, don't forget to review and I'll see you next time, readers, au revoir!**


	5. Stairs

**Misa: *Checks calendar* … Whoa! Has it really been a month? Uh, yeah, sorry about that, but I've just been super busy lately. I've been mainly focussing on Black and White as it's just getting to the good bits in that fanfic, but I finally got some inspiration for this story and now I'm done! Anyway, I said at the start of this story that I probably wouldn't be updating as much anyway, but I didn't think I'd ever leave it this long… Part of that reason was due to the fact that I don't actually own the game anymore and I'm having to read and watch walkthroughs on the internet to get most of my information. Anyway, I won't keep you any longer, onto the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Enjoy!**

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A man sat at his desk at the mayor's office in Phenac. He was round, _very _round, round enough so that his limbs looked like little stubs hanging off of him. He had barely any neck, and his head just looked like another circle attached to his body, though his lack of neck was made up for in the amount of hair he had in his bushy eyebrows and moustache. By first glance, you wouldn't think he was dangerous. Heck, the whole of Phenac saw him as the heart of the city. Maybe you wouldn't even see him as dangerous at second glance. He certainly didn't look like a bad person, more like one of those happy-go-lucky people who see everything in life as perfectly good and only look at the brighter side of things. Oh, how wrong the people of Phenac were, seeing him as their mayor and ultimate friend. He almost felt sorry for them as he sat at his desk, twiddling his chubby fingers on his lap. Knowing that they were all out there, all of them having a perfectly good time. He laughed a little. They would never see it coming.

The laughter of the residents in the city was almost sickening to Es Cade's ears. They were all so happy. He hated it. That's why he decided to take up the position of mayor in the first place. It would make his plan all the more easy. He smirked to himself, gazing out the open door and watching closely for the person he awaited to come through. His eyes were like that of a hawk, though he supposed they would have to be if they were to be alert enough to see every movement of his people. He had to watch every movement. He'd learned that when that girl had been kidnapped. They'd talked about her, the people who followed him, that is, as one who could see what no one else could. That definitely wasn't a good thing. But, even then, he still didn't see her as a threat. She was a puny little girl. No girl like that could meddle in their plans.

Unfortunately for him, it wasn't her who'd meddled. It was that boy. The one with the sandy brown hair and the blue trench coat. _He_ certainly looked like someone who could meddle. And a right meddler he was, too. He was good at interfering, no doubt, but would he be enough to stop the plan Cipher had so ingeniously developed and created? Would he be enough to stop the Pokémon that were twice as tough as regular ones? Apparently so, as he'd gotten far enough to snag quite a few Pokémon from their members so far, and if he had them in his hands, then he had a decent fighting chance. The mayor wondered how far into the plan he would have to dig before he himself had to interfere and destroy the stupid little boy.

And he was s traitor, too. One that had destroyed the base of Team Snagem. It was annoying. Yes, that's it. He was nothing but an annoying little boy. Annoying little boys didn't get that far. He'd managed to get far enough to turn sides and fight for good rather than ruling the world, but stupid little plans like that didn't get much further. This always happened, anyway. Just last year in Hoenn a lone girl had dug into Team Aqua's plans to fill the land with water. Sure, it was a silly plan to begin with, but it goes to show not to underestimate teenagers.

Es Cade wasn't underestimating the boy, though. No, it was far from that. If anything, he was expecting things from him. Whether or not he'd be able to carry out his expectations, he would know soon enough. He didn't know much about the boy, actually, other than the fact that he would never expect the mayor of Phenac to be the one he should fear the most. And as long as he had that girl on his side, it could prove troublesome in the end.

His eyes averted to the door when he heard louder footsteps outside, louder than the playful bounds of children. Much less playful, too. Instead, the footsteps he now heard were somewhat frantic. He could hear the scuffing of the shoes on the pavement, the heavy clunks of the running. Not happy running. Not running to play. Running for fear. Running because they wanted to conserve their lives. Running because they didn't want to be taken.

And he loved it.

A cruel smile crept across his face, and it widened even more when a man clad in green stumbled his way into the room. Not stumbling because he was one of the people running. Stumbling because he was one of the people they were running from. He dragged one of the people that failed to run along with him. The girl's eyes were filled with fear. She only looked around fifteen, so she wasn't very old. And she was helpless to their schemes. Helpless to escape. She didn't have a chance in the first place, so why did she run?

"I've captured one, sir!" said Verde, throwing the girl to the ground and saluting proudly. Es Cade smirked, eyeing the girl evilly. "She tried to fight, but we grabbed her!"

"So, you haven't had the strength to run, have you?" he drawled, standing up and kicking the girl in the shin. She yelped in pain at the hard kick, and something was heard cracking. Something that sounded sickeningly like her bone. "Now you don't have the strength to walk. Or even stand. You're weak, just like the rest of your pretty little town." Es Cade laughed at the girl, whose eyes were now filled with tears, her black hair hanging over her face like a curtain, shadowing it from any light that could come through.

"I-I…" she choked, letting out a small sob as she tried desperately to not look at the man in front of her. "Y-you… traitor…"

"Hm, that's rather peculiar," said Es Cade, laughing heartily, the sound filled with false warmth. "You call me a traitor? I am no traitor. I was never on your side to begin with. How could I be a traitor?" He kicked her again, causing the girl to scream. "Of course, if the shoe fits, why not tie the lace and wear it? What is your name, girl?"

"Why should I tell you?" she sobbed, barely able to get the words out. She was stronger than this. She had to be.

"I don't think you want to ask that question, girl, but I will say it again and give you another chance to correct yourself. What is your name?"

"L-Leia," she answered, not wanting to get on his nerves any more than she already had. Es Cade smirked. "Leia Hart."

"Well, young Leia, you will not speak of this, will you?" he said, eyeing her suspiciously, though a smirk was still wiped across his face, which was now growing with horrible satisfaction that sent shivers down the girl's spin.

"N-no…"

"You will not try to run and get help when the next few events take place like you have just done?"

"N-no…"

"Good." Es Cade grinned, showing slightly yellow teeth. "Now, I'm going to bring you up to the colosseum and you're going to sit there like a good little girl, yes?"

"You treat me like a dog. I'm much more than that!"

Es Cade paused, his smirk disappearing. He turned to the girl, a look on his face that told her that he was daring her to go on, almost like he wanted her to resist. She wouldn't do what he wanted.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. I will. I will stay up there."

But when there were only two options, and the mayor wouldn't mind either of them, how could she get away without satisfying him?

"Good, because once you're in there, there's no coming out. Verde! Go and get Lovrina. I think she deserves to escort this girl to the colosseum as her first order of business."

"B-but sir," said Verde, seeming uncertain about the commands. "Lovrina is just a child. Will she be able to…?"

"Verde, have you seen this pretty little lady's shin? She won't be able to escape Lovrina, no matter how young the girl is. Please, call on Lovrina so our plan can continue in this lovely town I call my home."

"Y-yes, sir…"

Es Cade was fully satisfied.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, his plan was finally getting in gear.

-.-.-

Stairs.

What more can I say? Stairs and hallways. That was pretty much what awaited us while Rui and I climbed up the Pyrite building to try and find our way to Miror B. Along with a few Trainers, of course, but it's hard to battle with the limited space we had. I used mostly Espeon and Bayleef, as at least they could attack easily from afar. I noticed when I used Pokémon such as Furret or Umbreon it just made things more annoying as they couldn't move around enough in order to execute a half decent attack.

"It's kind of sad…" muttered Rui, turning back to the boy we'd just battled. I raised an eyebrow. There were a lot of sad things going on with Team Snagem and Cipher, so her saying that "it" was pretty sad could have been taken in a few directions. "I mean, that kid looked about ten, maybe twelve, but he's already involved in these kinds of things."

"Yeah," I replied, though I had trouble finding something else to say after this. Maybe it's because of the things _I _was doing with these horrible people when I was that kid's age. Rather than going into my own memories, I redirected the conversation to something a little more indirect. "I mean, when I was in Team Snagem, there was a lot of kids who wanted to join up. Some wanted to be rebellious. Some had run away from home due to fights with their parents. Some… some of them were orphaned and had no where else to go." I found myself trailing off a little at that point, my voice reluctant to let out any more information. Rui stopped and eyed me curiously.

"And what about you?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to the expression that was undoubtedly all over my face at the time. "Why did you join? I mean, you're not a dumb person, so why would you get involved with people like that?"

"I have my reasons." The words came out of my mouth a little harsher than I would have liked, and much harsher than I was comfortable with. It was like I spat them, as if they were horrid words that I'd been dying to get rid of for way too long now. Not that I hadn't said that exact sentence before, though. It was generally the phrase I answered with when I didn't particularly want to admit something. The thing was, I _did _want to tell Rui about it. I wasn't sure why. I had barely known the girl for a few days, but I felt like I could come clean with everything for her. Maybe I should, she was my travelling partner, after all, but travelling partner or not, we were still raiding the building which held a decent amount of the members of the team we were fighting against. There's a time and a place for everything, but when you're raiding a building, it's neither the time nor place for too many things to take place, especially talking about a dark and somewhat sinister past.

Rui opened her mouth like she was going to reply, but she shut it again hesitantly when I shot her a somewhat threatening glance. Realising my past was the last thing that should be on my mind at that point, she smiled a little and turned her head back to the sights ahead of her.

_Arceus, you're an idiot sometimes… _I thought, shaking my head slightly, though I couldn't help but laugh a little when she reverted back to her usual, happy-go-lucky, everything is positive attitude.

My constant alertness was quickly beginning to annoy me, even with Espeon and Bayleef guarding behind us. I was paranoid, more than I would usually be. Actually, I didn't usually get paranoid anyway. Maybe it was the memories that dug themselves back into my head. Memories that I had only thought about in passing for a good two or so years. Still, I couldn't get past the constant feeling that someone was going to jump up behind me and attack me. If this was the case for me, I couldn't imagine how Rui would have been feeling. When it came to being kidnapped, she was the one with the most experience compared to the two of us. Even though she put on a normal face, I couldn't help but think she was hiding something.

"Wes, up there!"

Her voice brought me back to reality, which was probably a good thing for both of us. Thinking about how paranoid I was wasn't the best thing to be doing at the time. After all, I was most likely to be jumped on if I wasn't paying attention to the outside world. The best way to avoid being kidnapped is to not even bring it close to happening. Besides, I had Espeon and Bayleef, and neither of them would event think about accepting the fact that me or Rui would be hurt, especially Espeon.

I looked to where she was pointing to see a flight of stairs, though on the roof above us I could hear thudding footsteps, like someone was struggling to get away from there. After listening in a little closer, I also heard yelling and groaning, almost like someone was getting beat up. I pressed a finger to my lips before Rui could say anything more and the redhead instantly fell silent. I then gestured up the stairs and she followed me up, Espeon and Bayleef tailing us, both with somewhat aggressive expressions on their faces.

At the top of the steps we found ourselves on the roof of the Pyrite Building. If the town was a generally nice-looking town, then it would have been a pretty good view as you could see pretty much the whole town. Unfortunately, all it gave your eyesight was another look on how much haze there was cloaking the place. It was hard to see into the rest of the desert, and only then did I realise how little of the sky you could actually see through the clouds of pollution.

What standing on the roof did give us was a better hearing on what was going on in the small room on top of the roof. It didn't look very big on the inside, but apparently it was enough space to capture and lock someone up in there. That was what it sounded like anyway, otherwise there wouldn't be the muffled sound of screaming through the tape covering someone's mouth that I had heard before when I first met Rui. Unfortunately for us, there wasn't a window we could look through to get a view of what was going on inside there, so instead we just had to kick down the door and storm our way inside. That was what I did, anyway. Rui and the Pokémon were much calmer about entering the building than I was.

What I saw when I got in there was three people: two girls and a boy. The girls were obviously superior in strength and had managed to bound and gag the boy and toss him onto the ground like a discarded Potion bottle. They both looked over to me and, with shocked looks on their faces, immediately leapt in front of the boy and covered him from view, and because of this I didn't have enough time to see who the guy really was.

"Heh, we seem to be getting a lot of annoying company today," spat the one with bright, velvet-red hair and goggles strapped to her head. She looked slightly more comfortable with the situation than her company did, who had bright purple hair and a somewhat less confident expression on her face. "Little boys need to stop getting their noses into places they don't need to be."

The fact that she'd called me "little" was both brave and stupid of her, as she looked around Rui's age, and Rui was two years younger than me.

"Well, that's no excuse for being a bad host." She walked up to me with a challenging look and a proud walk, standing tall as if she were two feet taller than me even though I was around two feet taller than her instead. "I'll take this kid, Ferma," she said to her companion, nodding confidently. "You make sure the kid doesn't untie himself."

"Sure thing, Reath."

I had now realised said "kid" was Silva, the guy we'd seen arguing with Duking awhile back, and I mentally slapped my forehead. He didn't just look like an overconfident idiot, he _was _an overconfident idiot. And even then, he wasn't exactly a kid, even if he acted like one. He looked around twenty, older than me, at least. I turned my attention back to Reath, who now had two Pokéballs, one for each hand. I turned to Espeon and Bayleef, who nodded and stepped up to the challenge. It didn't really seem like the ideal place for a battle, but I wasn't going to complain at the fact that I could help destroy one of the places Cipher used to command their troops.

Before I knew it there was a Remoraid and a Spinarak standing (well, one of them floated…) in front of me. I raised an eyebrow, wondering how she could act so tough when she had such puny Pokémon on her side. Anyway, I wasn't complaining. The quicker I got rid of her, the quicker I could get out of this place and go after Miror B.

A yell from Rui told me that the Remoraid was a Shadow Pokémon. I nodded once and ordered Espeon to set up a Reflect to protect Bayleef from the incoming Shadow Rush that headed straight for her from Remoraid. The attack still hit, but it had to break through the glassy barrier that was covering the two Pokémon. Bayleef shook the attack off like it was nothing before the leaf on her head began to glow a brighter green than it already was and she sent an array of razor sharp leaves slashing through the air at Remoraid, who took a massive amount of damage.

Meanwhile, Espeon was holding a struggling Spinarak in the air, an almost bored expression on her face, while she waited to hear my command. She didn't even seem to be trying too much to keep the bug in the air anymore as it wasn't very strong and too light for her to have to concentrate much in order to hold it up. I found this rather amusing, seeing the difference between the two Pokémon's attitudes towards the situation, though I figured after awhile that I should probably tell her to do something so I could go back to trying to snag the Remoraid.

"Espeon, chuck it at the wall," I said casually. Just as casually, Espeon turned her gaze towards the wall, pulling the imaginary string that bound her to the Spinarak along with her. The Bug-type crashed into the wall with a painful cry and fainted instantly, its legs scrunched up to its abdomen, making its body take the form of a ball.

"Screw you!" yelled Reath, who had barely had a chance to attack yet. I laughed, snorting a little at her ignorance, before turning my attention back to Bayleef and Remoraid. Bayleef wasn't really doing much, just dodging Remoraid's Shadow Rush attacks with ease while waiting for me to tell her to actually do something.

"Stand down, Bayleef," I ordered. Bayleef nodded and dodged one last attack before rushing back to Espeon's side. Espeon looked back to me, and I nodded firmly, signalling for her to hold it down. Almost as calmly as she had done with Spinarak, she lifted the once-again charging Remoraid into the air and held it there while I pulled out a Pokéball. Not really having to focus too much on my aim, I threw it at the Water-type and it was enveloped in silver light. The Pokéball twitched three times before sealing.

Meanwhile, Reath's mouth was hanging open in shock, her eyes wide and her eyebrows twitching with annoyance.

"B-but… t-that's not fair…" she stammered. "I had a S-Shadow Pokémon. Those things are meant to work…" She stood up straight again before glaring up at the roof. "I think this one was broken," she whined childishly, crossing her arms and stomping over back to Ferma, who gulped as her companion pushed her forward.

"Here, you can take her on." Reath stepped back when Ferma was right in front of me. "Her Mantine isn't broken like my Shadow Pokémon was."

Ferma hesitated a little before glaring at me and tossing her Pokéballs into the air. An Aipom and a Mantine were soon in front of me, shooting daggers out of their eyes. I called Espeon and Bayleef back, figuring that even though they had barely put any effort into the last battle, they still needed a break from all the battles on the way to the top.

"Noctowl, Misdreavus, stand guard!" I called, sending out my new pair. Misdreavus cackled as soon as she felt the open air, her eyes squinted and her mouth in some cheeky grin that would send shivers down anyone's spine. Noctowl instantly flew up into the air and began circling the roof, staring the battle down from above. I figured out what he was doing almost instantly, realising that I should distract with Misdreavus and send Noctowl down when both Pokémon were occupied. I figured I would have a little fun with Misdreavus' tricky ways, too, if both Pokémon were going for her.

"Aipom, use Astonish on Misdreavus!" ordered Ferma, apparently gaining confidence once the battle begun. However, Misdreavus wouldn't have any of it and evaporated into thin-air before appearing on the other side of a now shocked-looking Aipom.

I smirked before ordering a command. "Shadow Rush, Misdreavus!"

Leaving the distractions up to Misdreavus, who was now having attacks flung at her pretty much constantly, I turned my gaze up to Noctowl, who was still circling around the roof with the eye of a hawk. After a few more seconds of Misdreavus not taking a hit, she seemed to be getting tired, so I finally ordered an attack from the Flying-type, which had long since been forgotten about by the opponent.

"Noctowl, use Shadow Rush on Mantine!" I called, and Noctowl charged down at Mantine from above and struck it on the back, shoving it to the ground in the process. "Good, now Misdreavus, use Shadow Rush on that Aipom. Noctowl, keep your eyes on Mantine."

Each Pokémon battled its respective opponent, neither side showing any signs of giving up too easily. I watched on, trusting my instincts that the Pokémon would know what to do. Luckily they did, and pretty soon Mantine was almost taken down. Feeling relatively confident, I threw a Pokéball at it and watched it get engulfed in red light. The ball twitched once, twice…

Then broke open, revealing the slightly healthier-looking Mantine. Ferma grinned at me.

"Good luck trying to catch Mantine, she's a fighter," she said, a slightly cocky tone to her voice. "Even when she's half knocked out, she's the best when it comes to avoiding sticky situations."

"Stop talking or that pretty little mouth of yours will rot and fall off from overuse," I snapped, snarling at my opponent. She seemed a little taken aback, but quickly brushed it off and we continued to fight.

Luckily for me, Misdreavus never showed any signs of exhaustion—not that she had to do much anyway—and quickly knocked out Aipom. I hoped this was Ferma's last Pokémon other than Mantine, but of course I was wrong.

"Heh, that thing can be replaced easily," snorted Ferma, waving her hand dismissively. "I refuse to lose to you. Go, Yanma!"

"Keep an eye on that, Misdreavus," I ordered. Misdreavus chuckled slightly and nodded, before dodging one of Yanma's attacks swiftly, though she seemed to be struggling to strike back due to the opponent's speed.

I turned my head to see Noctowl getting hit with one last Shadow Rush from Mantine before falling to the ground in defeat. I snarled, grumbling under my breath, before returning Noctowl to his Pokéball and congratulating him for his effort. I then pulled out Furret's Pokéball and ordered for her to take on Mantine now.

"Furret, Shadow Rush!" I yelled.

"Fur!" cried Furret, slamming into the tired-looking Mantine. Fortunately for me, Furret's boundless energy would prove useful for the battle ahead.

Figuring I should attempt at another shot, I pulled out a second Pokéball and tossed it at Mantine, who once again escaped, though the Pokéball twitched three times now before opening, but I'm not sure if it made a difference. The Pokémon still broke out, and that wouldn't help at all. Luckily, Furret caught it by surprise and attacked it as soon as it escaped, sending it crashing into the wall.

"Good job, Furret!" I said. Furret didn't look back, and instead focussed on dodging another incoming Shadow Rush. I turned my attention back to Misdreavus, who was now floating over to help Furret with the capture of Mantine. On the other side of the room, Yanma was lying on the floor with swirls where its eyes used to be, apparently having met its match with Misdreavus.

I kept throwing Pokéballs at Mantine for the next few minutes, and I think I ended up throwing around ten before I finally caught it. Groaning with a mix between frustration and relief, I walked over and picked up the Pokéball, before tossing it over my shoulder to be neatly caught by Rui, who grinned at me.

"Damnit!" growled Ferma, punching the air with a look on her face that told me she was pretending that said air was me. "Don't think we'll forget this. We have another place we need to be, so we don't have time to stick around. Next time we see you though, be prepared for a rematch!"

The two turned around and ran in opposite directions, almost bumping into each other, before realising their fault and running back through the door to the roof. As soon as they left, I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Silva, who was still sitting on the ground with his hands and feet tied together with a tightly-knotted rope. I knelt down next to him and sent out Bayleef.

"Bayleef, use Razor Leaf to cut the rope," I said. "Just don't cut Silva. I can't stop Cipher or Team Snagem if I'm in jail for murder."

"Bay!" chirped Bayleef, shooting a few leaves out of the large leaf on her head, which slashed through the ropes. Silva brushed the remains of the bindings off of himself before standing up and swinging his arms around relatively dangerously.

"I'm free!" he yelled happily, shaking his arms a few times. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem," I said, though I was a little annoyed that he was the reason we'd been delayed in our climb.

"Are you okay?" asked Rui, a worried expression clouding her face. She rushed up to him looking concerned and serious for once.

"I was a fool," said Silva, holding his head and shaking it shamefully.

"You got that right," I muttered.

"I didn't have a clue what was happening." Silva sighed. "They took Duking's Pokémon hostage. How could they do something like that?" He tried to take a step, but he fell forward. Rui was able to quickly place a hand on his shoulder to steady him. He smiled at her thankfully, and I had the sudden urge to slap him across the face and push him away from Rui. I wasn't sure why, as he wasn't hurting her or anything. She was just helping. I should have been glad that he hadn't fallen flat on his face.

"That's why we're here," said Rui. "We're here to rescue Plusle. We can't let them get away with this."

"I'm going too," said Silva, but Rui pushed him back to the ground, where he sat down without fighting it.

"Not in your condition," said Rui sternly. "You're staying here."

At that point, I heard a fuzzy sound coming from the screen that I now noticed to be at the back of the room. I turned to it to see it slowly flickering on, a figure that seemed all too familiar materialising onto the screen.

"Oh, so we meet again, kiddies!" The figure let out a laugh as if we were jokes. Miror B appearing on the screen wasn't the only spontaneous thing to happen, but also the random dance music beginning to play in the room as soon as he began talking. Personally I found this creepier than seeing a well-known criminal in front of me.

"Miror B!" growled Silva, pushing himself up once more. "You cowardly cheat!" He pointed at accusing finger at Miror B, who just laughed it off. Honestly, I wasn't paying attention too much as I was still trying to find the source of the music.

"Oh, come on, lighten up!" replied Miror B. "Taking a hostage is a simple bargaining tactic, not a way of cheating in any way. I'm sure that adorable little thing will warm up to me in no time at all."

"You've got to be kidding me!" yelled Rui, her fists clenched and her arms shaking in annoyance. "Where is Plusle? Give her back!"

"If you want the little darling back that badly, come to the cave and see me. I might give it back under certain circumstances." Miror B laughed again before disappearing off the screen. As soon as he was gone, the music stopped too, leaving only eerie silence around us.

"Where the heck did the music come from…?" I muttered absentmindedly, unaware that I'd said the words out loud. Rui smacked her forehead.

"Did you even hear _any _of that?" she asked, an exasperated tone in her voice.

"Something about a cave…"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" she grumbled, shaking her head, before stomping up to me and grabbing my hand with a grip that could possibly cut off my blood circulation. She then pulled me out of the room, calling, "You wait here, Silva, we'll be back before you know it!" behind her.

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**Misa: Ugh, I **_**hate **_**that Mantine with a passion… I remember when I first played the game I used **_**twenty freaking Great Balls **_**on that stupid thing! Anyway, chapters done, I'm going to bed, I'll see you next time. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner this time, and it helps that the school holidays are among us (Finally…)! Anyway, until then, stay tuned and don't forget to review.**


	6. Inside Pyrite Cave

**Pokémon Colosseum: Darkness of Orre**

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**Misa: Welcome to your daily (monthly) dose of Pokémon Colosseum, written by me, Misaki Amaya!**

**Yep, it's been over a month, but I'm back with chapter six! I really don't have any excuse other than the ones I've already used, like school and work, so that's it, school and work. Anyway, the chapter is here now, and I'm going to get straight into it since I don't have anything better to say other than I don't own Pokémon, which is obvious.**

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"I. Hate. Caves."

I lost track of how many times I had grumbled that particular sentence under my breath. But it was true, and I wouldn't have known before today that I did hate caves. I'd never exactly been in a cave before, and needless to say my first experience of one was terrible due to the fact that we were chasing an evil syndicate through it while trying to round up Pokémon that were at home in the dark. Along with that, I bumped into around three walls due to the pitch blackness, Misdreavus kept popping out of her Pokéball at the most inappropriate times possible, and I got bitten by a Shadow Swablu.

Not only that, but I also found out that Rui was terrified, and I mean downright _terrified _of the dark. It didn't help with Misdreavus popping out of her Pokéball, then hiding in walls and making weird cackling sounds that sent shivers down even _my _spine. I wasn't exactly sure why she was so scared, but I figured the time to ask wasn't when we were chasing a dancing, afro-headed criminal through a cave full of wannabe afro-headed criminals. It was pretty clear which peons were the favourites out of the others, as they generally had Shadow Pokémon, although one poor guy had a Shadow Dunsparce, which was relatively useless other than flopping around and occasionally attempting to use a rather feebly executed Take Down. Then there was a Meditite, which wasn't really any different from any of the other Shadow Pokémon we'd caught.

Then there was the Swablu. Yep, the one who'd bitten me on the arm the second I tried to throw a Pokéball at it, and I think I ended up throwing around five before I finally managed to aim it so it couldn't be dodged. It was different somehow from the other Shadow Pokémon, though. That was what Rui picked up, anyway. I myself wouldn't have known unless she had pointed it out as I was focussing more on dodging the vicious attacks from the crazy bird, and it wasn't until it stopped attacking due to the Trainer not giving it anymore orders that I realised what was actually wrong with it.

The way it moved was not like the free, gliding movements that Swablu would usually have. Instead, the way it flew around and carried out actions from its Trainer was somewhat robotic, like it couldn't have possibly done anything else. When it didn't receive orders, it simply sat on the ground, its body perfectly still, every trace of movement that could have possibly circulated its system had vanished, like it had simply been dispelled and never thought about again, until it received another order, of course. When it had an order, it carried it out as best as it could, lashing and scratching at my Pokémon in a vicious attempt to knock them out, and I wouldn't have been surprised if it had killed them in order to please its Trainer.

When I caught it, I let it out of its Pokéball to examine it better, much to Rui's displeasure. Being in the middle of a pitch-black cave surrounded by villains and evildoers, the last thing she wanted was to let out a violent bird Pokémon that would probably peck her eyes out. Me, being myself, didn't listen to her desperate protests and went along with it anyway. Luckily for probably both of us, it didn't move a muscle, though overall it probably wasn't a good thing for the Swablu itself. It didn't move unless I commanded it to, and when I did command it to do something, it followed my every word. If I told it to step forward with its right foot, it would do just that, almost as if being controlled by a remote. It acted like a robot that would be found in a toy store, only much more lifelike and, well, it was a Swablu and not a toy. Even so, if you found it sitting in someone's bedroom like that, you'd think it was a plush toy.

I tried commanding it to do a few more things, but in the end it had the same outcome; it just did whatever I wanted it to do, nothing more, nothing less.

But there was one more thing about it that I couldn't quite get my head around. Sure, Shadow Pokémon were made to follow their Trainer's commands, and this one just seemed _more _focussed on that, but even so, I shouldn't have been so surprised. Maybe this one was just a higher model than the others. But this one, unlike the others, especially Bayleef or Misdreavus, didn't seem to have any emotion on its face at all, like it was rid of all free will. It was odd, as because of the way it acted, I would have thought it would look aggressive, or angry at the least. Instead, it didn't even seem to put any effort into its fighting. Its eyes always stayed in the same dull form, and instead of turning around to shoot another attack at its opponent, it simply landed back on the ground again.

So why wasn't it showing emotion like all of the other Shadow Pokémon we'd caught so far? I tried to remember all of the Pokémon we'd snagged, and I couldn't remember a single one so far that didn't actually show emotion. They didn't even follow my orders like a robot. Instead, they would carry out their orders like normal Pokémon, except in Hyper Mode, of course, but that was a different matter altogether. No doubt, there was something different about Swablu. I would have said there was something wrong, but I don't think there was. I think it was exactly what the creators were aiming for. After all, it did carry out its orders without hesitation, even towards the end of the battle before we Snagged it when it was obviously exhausted and about to pass out. It still attacked with brute force, but I think that was what made it as exhausted as it was, rather than the constant attacks of the Pokémon on my side, as, admittedly, they didn't really attack much. I'd used Umbreon and Misdreavus, and for the most part they just dodged attacks with ease until it was drained of all energy.

And now, it was in my possession, and honestly, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it. I wasn't going to work with it now, as it was still exhausted from overwork, but I didn't really feel like battling it at all. It felt almost cruel to battle a creature forced to do such things, and especially knowing what Swablu are usually like. Knowing this, I stared into its eyes while it was out of its Pokéball, sitting in front of us, panting slightly from its previous battle. They were emotionless, as I'd previously mentioned, but after staring at them for a few more seconds, I realised I'd seen those eyes before. They definitely weren't unfamiliar entirely. No, the black holes that sucked up all emotion and laughed in its face were easy to recognise.

I'd seen them before in the Makuhita.

Yes, the Makuhita, the first Pokémon we'd ever Snagged. That look in its eyes when it was still in the filthy hands of criminals, they were what I'd thought of as aggression, of frustration, and maybe there was some of that, buried underneath the mark of a Shadow Pokémon. But what I'd seen definitely wasn't aggression, even though I had thought of it as that. Instead, it was the same vacuous, dull, robotic expression that lay in the Swablu's eyes. Back then, I hadn't gotten a chance to take a good look at the Makuhita, but now that I really thought back to it, there was no feeling in those black eyes.

Even then, though, I seemed to remember it attacking Rui and I without hesitation even before its Trainer commanded it to do anything. Perhaps it was the secret frustration built up inside of it, fighting to get it out of the empty shell around its soul. Yes, it was fighting to free itself. But even then, it didn't show that it was fighting for itself. When I thought about it, Shadow Pokémon were completely selfless creatures in more ways than one. Selfless because they didn't do anything for themselves, but also selfless because they were stripped of all sense of self-worth and soul. They couldn't even be viewed as living creatures. Perhaps ones like Bayleef or Misdreavus would, but definitely not the emotionless ones.

And then, without thinking, I did something both incredibly brave and stupid, though I'm pretty sure Rui thought more of it on the stupid side. I held out my hand and asked for Makuhita's Pokéball, which she seemed to have to force herself to hand over, but in the end she saw my demanding look and held it out to me with a shaking hand. I gladly took it, and for the first time in my life I had felt truly emotionless, like I had no sense of reason in my entire body. Perhaps that was why I risked letting Makuhita out of its Pokéball, in the middle of a dark cave where no one could save us if we got attacked, no less. For safety, Misdreavus and Umbreon stood beside us, ready to attack if they were forced to. But I knew they weren't needed. Well, I wasn't exactly sure, it was a test of both myself and Makuhita, after all.

I threw the Pokéball and Makuhita appeared in front of me, and the first things I looked at were its eyes. It barely moved, nor did I, and for a split second we seemed to have a small thread of string connecting us together, like we were just now understanding each other's feelings. My eyes stared into its, and it stared into mine, savouring the emotionless orbs that we both possessed. Then, with one quick flash, the thin thread connecting us broke in two, and in the second I was left looking at the Makuhita's eyes, I saw a glint of frustration, but when I looked back at the form now charging at me with its fist outstretched, that disappeared, leaving darkness.

I heard Rui's scream, but I ignored it, focussing only on the Makuhita. If he could feel emotion, he would have hated me, I could tell. For I was a Trainer. I was the one that controlled him. I was the one that gave him the commands that he was forced to carry out. And because of this, I let it charge at me, I let it get closer and closer, and rather than focussing on stopping it or bracing myself, I instead turned my attention to its eyes once more, staring into them. And, not so much to my surprise, as I'd somewhat been expecting it, Makuhita stopped in mid-step, its large fist merely inches from my stomach. I was never going to stop it, I was never going to give it an order. And that was why it had stopped. It had realised I would give it its own free will. That was when a single ounce of emotion flooded into its eyes, but like the frustration, it was gone in a quick flash. But because of that, I knew I had connected with it for a split second.

And knowing this, I felt even angrier when I stepped into Miror B.'s room right at the back of the cave.

He was dancing his heart out, standing, in all his glory, in the middle of the room on a small stage barely a metre wide to make him look even more freakishly tall than he already was. Surrounding him were four Ludicolo, their faces smiling and their eyes full of glee, though I was pretty sure they didn't really have a clue what they were doing there at all. They danced, perfectly in-sync with the dance-master in front of them, their faces oblivious to all of the evil that must have been going through his head. It was possibly the most bizarre scene I'd ever seen, but at the same time, the fact that it was Miror B. in the middle of all of it made it somewhat more believable.

Through all of this, he didn't seem to notice us as we stepped through the large metal door, even though said door made a large creaking noise when we struggled to push it open, making both me and Rui cringe at the sound of it. I was surprised Miror B. didn't fall off of his pedestal when he heard it—that and the weight that his giant afro must have provided and the fact that he wore stilted high-heels on his feet. Heck, I didn't know how he hadn't killed himself with all of the stairs he must have fallen down in his life.

Knowing in my head that it wouldn't work, I still tried sneaking through the room, past the Ludicolo—it's hard to sneak past giant green, overweight ducks with sombreros on their heads without laughing—and to the back door where Plusle was undoubtedly held, I hoped, anyway. Unfortunately, as soon as I laid a hand on the door, the thumping music that the five dancing beings were dancing to stopped, leaving only eerie silence. As soon as the silence arose, I flinched, waiting for Miror B.'s voice to ring out through it, which it did after a few seconds, only it didn't come from right behind me like I had half expected. Instead, it came from the middle of the room, though it echoed around the walls, bouncing back and forth and causing me to look in the opposite direction to the original source rather before looking at the place where it came from.

"So, you think you can get through there without my permission?"

The instant my hand touched the cold metal of the door, two of the four Ludicolo shoved me out of the way, before taking their places between me and the door which was my only connection to Plusle at that point. I groaned, shaking my head and crossing my arms in defeat. What was weird about this scene—other than everything going on at that moment—was the fact that, even though their minds were probably set to attack me at any moment, the Ludicolo's faces were still happy and oblivious as ever, which only made having to look at them all the more creepy. I turned behind me to see Rui was still standing at the entrance, looking a little confused as to why I had actually tried to get to the back room thinking that no one would notice. I wasn't really sure, either, so I turned on my heels and walked back to Miror B., who simply grinned somewhat maniacally, staring down at me from his excuse for a stage.

"Well, then, about time." Miror B. lifted up his arm and checked the non-existent watch on it like it had been there all along. For most criminals, this would have been somewhat scary, especially knowing the criminals I'd come across in my time, but seeing Miror B. do it actually lightened the scene a little more, if it could be lightened anymore. I was already holding back laughter as the Ludicolo around me danced their rhythmic patterns and paid absolutely no attention to anything else.

"I'm so frightfully tired of waiting for you," continued Miror B., before wiping a little sweat off of his forehead, which made me cringe. "I've been waiting so long I decided to work up a little perspiration!" Then he laughed in a tone that would have been evil if he didn't have the personality of a three year old who had just been introduced to disco music.

"If you've been waiting for so long, why don't you cut to the chase?" I snapped, trying to keep my face in the usual annoyed one that it had been all the way through the cave, but it was next to impossible.

"But, my, you've been busy being naughty and messing up our plans," continued Miror B., as if I hadn't said anything in the first place. "Humph, it was oh-so-close for everything to turn out just right, the way we'd planned, but I don't know what we were expecting with you two little rugrats running around in places you needn't be."

I opened my mouth to argue that we were far from rugrats and then go into an in-depth explanation of what rugrats actually are, but I was cut off.

"But," he continued, "I can salvage our plan by beating you little man! And so," He raised a hand, and the music that had previously been playing started out of nowhere, "start the music! Let's battle!"

I didn't bother wasting my time questioning myself once again about where the music had come from. Instead, I turned to Misdreavus and Umbreon, who were still standing—and floating—beside me, and the two Pokémon nodded and rushed over to the battle scene, where two Ludicolo now stood, still dancing to the music and not really looking prepared for a battle at all. I growled when I noticed Umbreon beginning to jump around on the spot to the music, but when he heard the noise emitting from my throat, he stopped instantly.

"Don't start this, Umbreon!" I snapped, and Umbreon barked determinedly, pricking his ears up at the battle scene.

"Alright, Ludicolo, start us off with a Rain Dance!"

I wasn't entirely sure how either Ludicolo knew which one of them their Trainer was talking about, but apparently they knew it was the one on the left, and it automatically began doing a little jig on the spot, before raising its hands to the sky and clapping them once. All of a sudden, rain began falling from the ceiling and splattering everywhere, the hazy droplets filling the room with mist and making everything instantly seem colder. I felt my hair go flat as it got weighed down by the rain, and it fell over my eyes and caused them to sting due to the freezing cold water which entered them unrepentantly. I turned around to Rui, who was now shivering in her short skirt and jacket that only reached her elbows. Her usually spiky pigtails were now droopy, hanging over her ears and probably not helping with how cold she was. Shaking my head, I turned from her and back to the battle. Umbreon looked much more bothered by this than Misdreavus, who was dancing around in the droplets which didn't even seem to hit her and simply dissolved through her ghostly form.

"Umbreon, use Bite on the one on the left, Misdreavus, let's have a Shadow Ball on the one on the right!"

My Pokémon instantly sprang into action, Umbreon shaking himself before doing so to get off the water which was clinging to his fur, though this proved to be useless as said water was simply replaced by more rain. Both Ludicolo were hit head-on, though they didn't seem to be affected much from the hits even though they were pretty much direct. It was then that I noticed that the water that was being caught in their giant sombreros was being absorbed into the giant seed in the middle of them, which must have been slowly replenishing their health. Of course, this made the fight increasingly annoying, and no matter how much I attacked them, the damage they took was about half due to the rain healing them every-so-often.

Another irritation in the fight was the fact that one of the Ludicolo knew Dive, and managed to somehow dive into the little puddles left on the ground from the rain, which was slowly spreading and was now covering the soul of my boots. I could feel it seeping into my socks, which didn't help my coldness at all. Strangely, Miror B. didn't seem annoyed at all by this. His afro seemed to just absorb all of the rain, and it never seemed to get wet as I could seem to pick up sight of any tiny sparkling droplets clinging to it.

"Umbreon, keep on guard!" I yelled, as Umbreon stood, growling menacingly and waiting for the Ludicolo that had since dived underwater to come up and reveal itself once more. I was confused as the puddle it dove into were completely shallow, and every time I called for Misdreavus to use a Shadow Ball on the puddle to send it down to the Ludicolo who lurked underneath it, the ball of darkness just hit the floor and caused a large dent in the stone, which had apparently returned once the one using Dive had submerged itself into it.

Due to the whole Dive strategy, trying to knock out the Ludicolo was increasingly hard, and I ended up switching Umbreon out for Noctowl since the Ludicolo couldn't hit anyone if they were in the air, and we soon knocked out both of them…

Only to have Miror B. release two more Ludicolo, who pretty much did the exact same thing as the previous two.

My strategy for them was pretty much the same, only this time I didn't have Misdreavus for most of the fight as she'd gotten knocked out half way through, but Espeon did prove helpful in the end due to the fact that she just held the Ludicolo in mid-air with Confusion before they could actually get underwater.

Miror B.'s final Pokémon, however, was much more annoying and threatening than the previous Pokémon. The fifth Pokémon that he sent out was a Sudowoodo, a Shadow Sudowoodo, to be exact, but luckily for both me and Rui it wasn't the emotionless form like the Swablu had been, though I guess it's hard to be totally emotionless in front of Miror B. Perhaps if I sent Swablu and Makuhita out right now and let them get a glance of Miror B. then they would snap out of their Shadow state and start dancing like there was no tomorrow. Heck, I hated Miror B. with a passion and I still felt like dancing whenever I saw him.

I recalled Noctowl, feeling it would be a pretty stupid idea to let a Flying-type take charge against a tree made of rock, so I sent out Bayleef in his place, who cried out happily before glaring determinedly at her opponent who, like its Ludicolo companions, didn't seem to care and just kept swaying from side to side.

It irritated me a little that Miror B. didn't seem discouraged at all that it was now a two against one fight, and it wouldn't make any difference that the Pokémon on his side was a Shadow Pokémon as I had one too, though Bayleef didn't look much at all like a fierce, I'm-going-to-kill-you-right-now Shadow Pokémon. Instead, she just stayed in her usual happy state, the state a big green dinosaur with a leaf on its head should be in.

"Alright, Bayleef, let's have a Razor Leaf! Espeon, send 'em flying to the wall after with Confusion!" I ordered.

Due to the whole two-on-one disadvantage, the Sudowoodo didn't really stand a chance and I could only watch and laugh as Miror B.'s face grew redder and angrier by the second as he watched his fifth dancing Pokémon get beaten and bashed by my Pokémon, and eventually sucked into a Pokéball. I punched the air at my victory, which definitely took much longer than necessary to receive.

"How _dare _you!" snapped Miror B. when I tossed the Pokéball of my new Pokémon over my shoulder to Rui, who caught it eagerly and beamed at me. "You will never get away with your latest outrage! One of these days, I'll take great pleasure in kicking you about with my elegant dance steps. Don't think this is the end, Wes, because we're just getting started on out Shadow Pokémon plan." He then turned to his Ludicolo, who were now standing behind him, having been healed from the rain after being taken out, which had now stopped. "Let's go, escape!"

As soon as Miror B. stepped out of the large metal door at the entrance to the cavern, the music around us stopped, and Rui was irritated with my absentminded mutter of, "It will always fascinate me not knowing where that music comes from" which always came, causing her to burst into rants about how I could think of such a thing when I was being confronted by the admin of a criminal syndicate. Of course, I just answered with my usual shrug.

"C'mon," I said finally, "let's go and get Plusle since there's nothing stopping us now."

We walked to the back of the room, the only sounds being the annoying sloshes of our feet hitting the water as we walked, which echoed off of the walls and became even more loud and irritating. The door opened with a lot of force and a loud creak, but finally we managed to clamber through it to see another large cavern, this one with a spotlight lighting up the room and the small electric mouse Pokémon that was Plusle standing in the middle of it. Upon seeing us, it turned and twitched its ear in curiosity, not really seeming scared at all like I'd expected it to be. I looked down at Espeon, who was at my side, and pointed at the Plusle. She nodded half-heartedly and trotted over to where the Plusle stood.

After a few Pokémon cries and a long, apparently meaningful conversation between the two, Espeon walked back over to us with an overjoyed Plusle clinging to her back. She seemed a little irritated, and gave me a look that seemed to say, "You owe me for letting this stupid little rat touch my fur," and because of this she skipped straight past me and instead walked over to Rui's side, who picked up Plusle and held him in her arms so he wouldn't get away, which it looked like he would have done due to excitement of being free if not for her strong grip.

The next thing brought to my attention were the footsteps coming from the other side of the two caverns, splashing noises echoing over the wall that separated us from the other room. I turned around to see Duking rushing up to us, closely followed by Silva. Naturally, they'd showed up too late to help get any of the hard work done, but Rui didn't seem to mind, not like she ever did.

"Wes, Rui, Plusle!" yelled Duking, and he skidded to a halt in front of us and nearly slipped over due to his boots being wet.

"Oh, Duking, I'm sorry, but Miror B. got away," muttered Rui, kicking the ground awkwardly as she handed over Plusle to Duking.

"Ah, it's fine." Duking waved a dismissive hand. "We're all safe, that's what matters. And we got Plusle back before he got turned into a Shadow Pokémon. Miror B. won't be coming back, anyway. Let's head back to my office."

-.-.-

"Wes, we owe you a great deal, thank you," said Duking sincerely, his hands laid on his desk and his fingers entwined together, his thumbs twiddling around each other. "Thanks to you, Plusle wasn't turned into a Shadow Pokémon."

"Plah, Plah!" cried Plusle, who was climbing up and down Rui's arms as they sat in the corner of the room and played together while Duking and I talked. It was a cute sight, I had to admit, though I wouldn't usually call things cute. Rui got along well with Plusle, and it seemed to be instant friendship when the two met.

"I guess we'd better go, then," I said, stepping back a little, but before I left, I turned back around and handed Duking a little slip of paper. "Here' this is my P*DA number, call me if anything gets rough up here again." Though I wouldn't have been happy at all if something else did happen. "Come on, Rui."

Rui sighed and stood up, Plusle still on her shoulder. A little sadly, she walked over and placed Plusle on Duking's desk, before patting the little mouse on the head. "Be good, okay?" she said, and Plusle nodded eagerly, before we both turned to leave.

Once we reached the end of town, however, we were stopped by an old lady with strange star-shaped glasses and a creepy, toothy smile. She had purple robes draped over her shoulders that looked like they were at least one-hundred years out of fashion and purple boots that were probably made out of Ekans skin or something weird an expensive. Once she saw us, she turned her nose up and sniffed the air tentatively, as if she were a Houndour.

"Ah, I might be mistaking it, but the town's air seems somewhat less dirty," she said, in a weird voice that was rather misty and mysterious, but also croaky, the way an old lady would normally sound. "But not all is well. I sense the presence of auras coming from Shadow Pokémon."

Rui gasped. "Wow, Fateen, nothing escapes your notice!"

Well, now I knew why the place was called "Fateen's Fortunes". Apparently the lady's name was Fateen. But what confused me more was the fact that she'd only now just realised that there were Shadow Pokémon in the town, which was weird on her behalf as pretty much everyone in the town, criminal or not, knew about Shadow Pokémon.

"Yes." Fateen flashed a creepy, toothy smile which I think was meant to be somewhat smug. "There is nothing that eludes the notice of my fortune telling. However, the darkness of Orre is rising my friends, and your key to cleansing Orre of those shadows, it is in the north."

"The north…" muttered Rui. "Oh, that's where my grandpa lives. Oh, no!" She suddenly looked utterly shocked, before she turned to me and gripped my shoulders. "I was on my way to visit grandpa when I got kidnapped!" she exclaimed, so fast that all her words seemed rolled into one. "He lives in Agate Village! That could be our key!" And with that, she gripped my wrist and began dragging me away. "Come on, Wes, to Agate Village!" She punched the air determinedly, and I just went with it. I wasn't going to fight against getting out of Pyrite town as soon as possible.

**-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-**

**Misa: Obvious title reference is obvious… **_***shot***_

**But yeah, I thought of that last scene with Fateen when I wrote the first chapter of this, and I figured, hey, why not throw the title of the story in there! Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter (which will hopefully be out sooner than two months, I apologise for the wait…) and don't forget to review!**


	7. Agate Village

**Pokémon Colosseum: Darkness of Orre**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Agate Village**

* * *

I breathed a sigh of relief as the grassy hills and crystal clear waterfalls entered my vision through the vast measures of harsh, hot desert, which had been the only thing I'd seen in awhile. It almost hurt my eyes, the brightness of it all. The beauty was almost overwhelming and I had trouble looking at it properly without having to blink multiple times to focus on it a little better.

The only thing obstructing the what would be serene, quiet sounds was my bike's engine, which was rumbling loudly as it tried to get through a particularly deep layer of sand. Rui had suggested that we walk the rest of the way and come and get the bike later, but it had gotten to the point where getting out of the sand was a matter of pride for myself even if no one ever saw it other than Rui.

Finally, after a few Trapinch bites and a lot of sand in my hair, we began driving on harder ground as the grassy area approached. A few minutes later—though the closer we got to the village, the slower the time seemed to go—I pulled the bike over on the soft, grassy ground and hopped out. I sighed at the feel of grass under my feet. It felt foreign to me, but it was somewhat relieving from all the pale brown the sand shoved in my face.

Rui seemed to be taking it in much more slowly. She turned her nose into the air as soon as she stepped out of the sidecar, breathing in a large gulp of fresh air. After being in Pyrite, Agate Village was probably the best scenery we could ask for in Orre. The village was crafted into a massive hill, somehow without disturbing the natural parts too much. The majority of the houses were built into the bottoms of massive trees, so well camouflaged that I wouldn't have noticed them without Rui bringing them to my attention.

The parts of the village not completely covered in grass were the rivers, flowing serenely around us at their own pace, perfectly clear, a pale blue tone possessing the water. The sound was music to my ears, and I realised I hadn't ever felt this calm in my life. I'd never been to Agate. Back in the Team Snagem days, we never came to Agate because most of the Trainers were old retirees with stronger Pokémon by their sides. Besides, it was much easier raiding a crime-filled city like Pyrite; we were less likely to get noticed.

I raised a lip and scowled at the thoughts. I shouldn't be thinking about times like that, especially in a town as calm as Agate. I felt more out of place than I ever had with my torn up clothes and leather boots covered in sand, but I didn't bring it up, especially to Rui. She seemed much too immersed in the moment.

I turned to her as we made our way through the village. There were no paths, but Rui seemed to know where she was going relatively well, so I just went with it. Her face took on a slightly green tinge due to the light reflecting across the grass, and she seemed to be enjoying the silence more than ever. I liked it too, admittedly, though I had to convince myself a few times not to go too soft. It felt almost unnatural to not have a constant scowl planted across my face.

After awhile, Rui stopped, causing me to force myself to a halt in order to not bump into her. She turned to me, and I stepped back to avoid awkward closeness. For once, I noticed light in her eyes. Pure, excited light filling the orbs that would generally be so emotionless and, especially in Pyrite, somewhat cautious and scared. For once, however, she seemed extremely excited. The last time I'd seen her excited was back in Phenac, but even then, she'd just been kidnapped. Being in a place like Agate was different, there was no fear, no worry, just serenity and, for her, pure excitement.

"It's up here!" she almost yelled, jabbing a finger through the air hastily and pointing to the very top of the village cliffs. On top sat a large tree, larger than the rest of them. By the way it was sitting, it resembled a ruler, addressing its loyal subjects. I laughed at the comparison, though Rui took no notice. I couldn't see a house; it was too high up to, but I assumed that there was one built into the bottom of the tree.

She barely gave me time to nod even once before she dashed off, not even glancing at me or thinking of giving me a small warning, and for the next few minutes I found myself struggling to catch up to her as I grew increasingly tired of running uphill at full speed. It was hard not to slip, as the grass was extremely fresh and moist.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, we reached the top of the cliff, and, before going into the house like I'd expected her to, Rui turned around and looked down the cliff, her eyes widening in even more bright excitement.

"Look!" she breathed. I, too, turned to take a look at what she was staring at, and when I did see it, I was surprised I hadn't noticed it before even with my struggle to keep close behind the overexcited female.

Due to trying to get to Rui's grandparents' house as fast as possible, I hadn't noticed how late it was, and now that I finally had a break, I was now noticing it more than ever. As the sun set in the distance, it took up the dust clouds of the desert in its light, trapping them there and using it for its own perfection. The sand, rather than the melancholy brown that the endless plain had taken up previously, was now a bright gold colour, like fire spreading across a savannah, only there was no grass to fuel it, which made it even more unlikely.

Looking down at the village, I could see that everything, the water, the grass, the tiny details on every leaf of every tree, had also taken up the golden colour, scooping it up for itself and making it even more beautiful. Streaks of gold and green should have clashed violently in mid-air, but instead danced in harmony as they eyed the sky and lit up the surroundings.

"Isn't it pretty?" muttered Rui, her voice airy, only making the breeze that brushed through the air even more calm and soft. I didn't say anything; the silence was all we needed.

…Though said silence was soon broken when a door behind us banged open and I heard footsteps behind us, almost giving me a heart-attack, enough so I had to steady myself so that I wouldn't fall off of the cliff that we'd been gazing off. And just like that, I was back to my usual self. I turned by body around, feeling one of the joints in my neck crack as I did so, and confronted the older man that now stood behind us, his long white hair streaming behind his head through the breeze, being increasingly pushed due to the anger that emitted from me.

"You almost scared me to death!" I roared, my usually hazel eyes probably taking on more of a rusty amber colour. "What the _Distortion World _was that for?"

Despite my sudden outburst, he didn't seem at all scared or surprised. Much to my annoyance, he seemed more curious than anything.

"And who might you be?" he asked casually, causing me to freeze before crashing to the floor. "Huh, he passed out… Ah, Rui, long time no see!"

I could only watch as Rui stepped over me and faced who I assumed to be her grandfather.

"Eagun!" she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry I was late."

Eagun shook his head. "Not a problem. We'll talk about it inside." He then looked down at me. I was now sitting up, rubbing my now sore head. I glared at him as I did so. "How about you two come in for some dinner? Beluh's cooking up a nice stew."

He turned to leave, but stopped when he heard me stand up behind him. He turned to see me glaring at him irritably. "Are you kidding me?" I snapped, crossing my arms defiantly. "I'd rather jump of a cliff than go into your smelly old-…"

I stopped talking when Rui grabbed my arm and tugged me inside, a sickly sweet smile on her face. "We'd love to, Grandpa!"

She ignored the rest of my annoyed protests.

"Beluh, look who arrived!"

I almost didn't notice the old lady standing in the kitchen when we walked in due to the fact that I was desperately trying to escape again. She turned, her eyes curious, but when she laid eyes on Rui, she dropped the wooden spoon that she had gripped in her hand and rushed over to hug her granddaughter.

"Oh, Rui, we were so worried!" she gasped, throwing her arms around the redhead, who waved her arms in an attempt to ask for personal space. Once Beluh let go, she turned around to see where Eagun had gone. To her own irritation, he was sat down, watching the news on television. "Well, _I _was, anyway…" she muttered, before turning to me and raising a suspicious eyebrow.

I waved half-heartedly and let out a small grunt that was meant to mean "hello" but honestly, I was too grumpy to say anything.

"And who are you?" she inquired. Rui cut in, as if a little nervous.

"Uh, this is Wes." Her voice was hesitant and somewhat exasperated. "We've been travelling together for the past few days."

"I see…" Beluh then approached me, her eyes wide as she examined the boy who'd been wandering distant towns with her granddaughter. "Is he… your boyfriend?"

That broke me, though I wasn't exactly sure what to say. To my relief, well, as relieved as I could get, Rui rushed up to her grandmother, standing in-between us and carelessly shoving me out of the way. She then attempted a practical essay on why we weren't anything more than friends and how she'd only known me for a few days.

Attempting to hide my flaming red face, I turned to watch the television. Something on the news; that would distract me. I was about to release a relieved sigh when I saw Eagun sitting on the couch, though his eyes were no longer on the television. Instead, they were planted on me, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

I had to bite my bottom lip to force the endless amount of curse words that were going through my head to stay in my mouth, hard enough that I drew a little blood. The somewhat metallic taste filled my mouth. It tasted sickly, and it didn't help with Eagun's apparently growing joy. I scowled, before turning back to Rui, who was now helping Beluh cook dinner. With the sudden change of attitude, I could tell this was going to be an interesting few days, perhaps longer, and Rui was already stirring stew vigorously and driving any attention away from me for the time being.

* * *

Dinner wasn't too bad. It wasn't filled with awkward silences and my own scowls like I'd expected it to be. Instead, we had somewhat merry conversations, though Beluh and Eagun seemed to soon realise that I didn't do "merry" very well. I still engaged in conversation, and surprisingly, I got along quite well with Eagun. We talked about Pokémon Training and battles. Apparently he was a pretty strong Trainer when he was younger, and he could probably have talked to me for a few weeks about his own journeys.

I was glad the subject of why Rui was so late didn't come up for awhile. I was quite happy enjoying a normal conversation that didn't involve Cipher or Team Snagem. It was the first I'd had in awhile, especially since a mere few days ago I was still a part of Team Snagem.

However, the normal conversations didn't last too long. Leave it up to a worried grandmother to ask about why Rui was late. Of course, the first person Rui turned to for a decent explanation was me, but I simply shrugged.

"You saw more of it than I did, I just rescued you."

I could tell she was slightly annoyed at me, and the first few sentences that she spoke came out somewhat harshly. She recounted it pretty well, though. Well, I assumed so. It was that point that I realised I hadn't even heard the story of how she got kidnapped in the first place.

At the end of the story, Eagun looked like he was about to choke on his stew, but Beluh simply patted him on the back casually as she stared at Rui sympathetically. I got ready for the questions that would undoubtedly be next to start rolling in. Naturally they came from Beluh.

"So, it was Team Snagem that abducted you?" she asked, her eyes squinting in curiosity, arms folded on the table. Her stew had long been pushed to the side.

Rui nodded, though she grimaced at the bitter memories. "And Wes who saved me," she finished, a seemingly nervous look on her face from all of the questions.

"I see…" Beluh turned to me next. To my surprise, she bowed her head, a sparkling tear trickling down her cheek. "Thankyou for saving my dear Rui."

I was a little taken aback, at loss for what to say. After a few seconds of dumbfounded staring, I simply nodded and muttered, "No problem," though my tone probably didn't help Beluh's mood, even if she didn't show any change in personality.

"And they took you because you saw a strange aura on a Poké-" She paused for a second, her eyes suddenly widening, before continuing again, a slightly excited tone to her voice. "What colour was the aura. You never said…" Her voice was getting faster and hastier by the second, and she seemed to be urging Rui for a clear answer.

"They're a purple-ish black kind of colour…" muttered Rui, but it was then that Beluh slammed her hands down on the table, causing both me and Rui to jump back in shock.

"No need to say more!" she exclaimed, before rushing upstairs.

Silence filled the table after that, and Rui and I simply stared at the stairs that Beluh had disappeared up for a few seconds, before turning to each other. I raised an eyebrow, and she simply shrugged. A wordless conversation seemed to go through our heads at that point, but the concentration was severed when Eagun stood up, a wide grin struggling to push through his long white beard.

"So, who's up for desserts?"

Rui and I sweatdropped, but we turned to each other, smiled, and nodded. We weren't going to say no to special treatment. With what we'd been through, we deserved it.

* * *

The rest of the night was relatively uneventful for the most part. Beluh didn't emerge from upstairs for a good hour after dinner, and by the time she finally did come out from hiding, she was covered in dust and looking slightly disappointed.

"Eagun, what did we do with the book of legends?" Her voice had a demanding tone to it. "You know, the one about the legends in Orre. With Celebi-…"

Eagun's face lit up. "Oh, I know what you're looking for now…" He turned to Rui for a few seconds, observing her like she'd suddenly changed in appearance in the past few moments. "No… I'm not sure… aha! Senilor!"

"Senilor?"

"Yes! Senilor!"

"Oh, Senilor!"

By this point, both Rui and I were completely lost as to what was going on as the older couple discussed said "Senilor". After a few seconds, their heads snapped towards us.

"Tomorrow, you two are going to see Senilor! He's the town elder, and though his memory is a little rusty, he should know where the book is."

"Why not now?" I asked, somewhat eager to find out more. Beluh raised an eyebrow.

"Agate Village has to streetlamps, dearie." Her voice was soft and slow, as if speaking to a two year old. "And there are cliffs with no railings or anything. No one goes outside at night for that reason."

I nodded slowly and scowled, resisting the urge to elbow Rui as I heard her soft giggle enter my left ear.

"For now," continued Beluh, her voice back to normal, "you two should get some rest. Rui, you remember where the spare bedroom is, right?"

Rui nodded.

"Alright, we'll figure some things out in the morning. For now, have a good rest!"

A little irritated, I followed Rui to the side of the house, where a small hallway connected two rooms to the rest of the house. We entered the one on the furthest side, which led to a bedroom with two beds on either side of the room. It was odd seeing a nice looking bed for once, not the lumpy ones in the Pokémon Center or Pyrite Hotel. I couldn't blame Rui for rushing over to the bed closest to the window and flopping herself down on it, before sighing blissfully and rolling over. She then pointed to the other bed.

"You… sit…" she muttered, before she rolled over, not even pulling the upturned blankets over herself, and fell straight to sleep.

I let a small laugh escape my mouth, though it was more just breathing slightly harder out of my nose. I could understand why she'd been so eager to get a decent bed; she was probably used to sleeping in good-quality places with comfy matrasses. I, honestly, didn't really care. I was used to staying in grungy places, and I suppose that for once, it would be good to not have to sleep with one eye open, waiting for someone to attack me.

I found myself watching Rui for awhile as she slept. Call me creepy, whatever, it was instinct. I'd never seen her so blissful or carefree. I assumed she, too, was usually restless when sleeping, at least for the past few days. Now, however, she seemed completely at peace. It was somewhat relieving for even me knowing that she wasn't afraid of being kidnapped again. At least for one night.

After a few more minutes, I realised how scary it would be to wake up to find someone staring at you in your sleep, I shook my head and lay back on the bed, my back becoming enveloped in fluffy green bed-sheets. Though it was probably a pretty average bed, to me, it felt like sleeping on a cloud, and, reluctantly, I found my eyelids flickering as they tried to close down. I didn't want to fall asleep for some reason, I just felt like lying there, the only sound around me being mine and Rui's breathing, but that wish was snapped as my eyes were taken over by darkness.

* * *

Thankfully, the next morning wasn't nearly as chaotic as last night. Rather, it was the best morning I'd had in awhile. I'd forgotten what it was like to have a normal breakfast with a normal family, but I felt at home in Agate. I'd awoken to the sound of the rivers outside and soft rays of sun shining through Rui's bedroom window. Rui was already up, and was tying her hair into two pigtails. She turned to me after a few seconds, still fiddling with her hair, and grinned.

"Morning, sleepyhead!" she chirped, and I smiled a little to see her so happy. I couldn't help but go a little soft on her. After all, it was the first time I wasn't grumpy due to lack of sleep in forever.

When we'd gone downstairs, we were greeted by Beluh and Eagun, their welcoming eyes bright as we walked up to the table where bowls of porridge with brown sugar sprinkled over the top were already laid out on the table. I couldn't help but appreciate it. I hadn't even asked to stay with them, but they'd welcomed me with open arms.

In passing, I'd asked Eagun when we should go and see Senilor, and he replied saying that there was no rush and that he's generally in the best mood in the afternoon. Honestly, though, I wasn't as eager as I was last night. Actually, I'd been quite happy staying at home for the time being. Eagun had said he'd have a battle with me that afternoon after I went to see Senilor, and I was quite happy to battle someone who was apparently so strong.

For the time being, Rui and I settled on wandering around the village and looking around. Apparently, Rui wanted to find a friend of hers, and I was quite happy to go along with her. She seemed surprised that I was even slightly happy, but she told me she wasn't going to mention it too much because I'd probably complain about her calling me nice.

"You know me too well…" I muttered under my breath, almost absentmindedly, though there was some sort of sense behind it.

So the morning was spent looking around the village, and it proved for some rather awkward situations for me, mainly due to the fact that everyone knew Rui and no one knew who I was, so I ended up sending out Espeon to stroke on the ear during awkward situations. When people insisted on patting Espeon because she was "The most beautiful thing they'd ever seen" I was stuck with nothing to do but lean awkwardly against a tree and nod, pretending to listen to the conversation.

After not finding her friend, Rui said it would probably be best that we go back to Eagun's house to then get directions on going to Senilor's house, which I didn't turn down. My feet were getting tired, and, even though sitting down and listening to a forgetful old man speak would usually be on the bottom of my "things to do when I get bored or tired" list, it suddenly seemed rather appealing.

However, pretty much as soon as we entered the house and greeted Eagun, we were shoved aside by a man who looked absolutely terrified. He was breathing heavily, like he'd just willingly sprinted a marathon, and his hands were pressed onto his legs as he panted and tried to get his words out. Eagun stepped forward, a concerned look on his face.

"What is it, Alan?" he asked, placing a hand on the man's shoulder.

"It's the Relic Forest, sir!" panted the man, Alan. "They're trying to get rid of the Relic Stone!"

* * *

**Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Seriously, I was actually really happy with how this chapter turned out. Holidays are coming up soon, too, and honestly, I love the Agate Village arc of the game, so I'll try to update a little quicker!**

**In other news, thanks for all the people who have favourited and/or followed this story, you guys are awesome! Until next time, see yah!**


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